Fate's Gamble
by Lupine Horror
Summary: When Zelretch gets bored and tries to experiment and Fate herself latches on then you can only hope the end will be to your benefit as now even Fate cannot see what she has done. Has She doomed a world or has she pushed it to prosperity? The decision lies in the hands of a young boy who does not know the love of a family. Disclaimer: This is fan fiction. I only own the plot.
1. The Path Diverges

Chapter 1 – The paths diverge

Zelretch or, as he is sometimes known, the Wizard Marshall was contemplating a curiosity of his. As most in the Clock Tower know, when Zelretch gets an idea then running is most likely futile. Fortunately, for them at least, the Wizard Marshall had directed his attention elsewhere.

It had been a curiosity of his to mess with alternate dimensions on occasion, but he had thought little of it until now. He had been relaxing and thinking on his long past and quite by accident he found himself reminiscing in thoughts of his battle with Crimson moon Brunestud and the price that had fallen on him. It has been remarked that since then the Wizard Marshall has been slower or weaker but few could fathom a reason why. He was the Zelretch! He Had mastery over his specific true magic the Kaleidoscope didn't he? The truth however is that the price that was paid for defeating crimson moon Brunestud was high. He had had to connect to his alternate selves throughout the multi-verse and they combined all their prana to put an end to the stalemate that it had thus far been. The price was a heavy one as a number of his alternates had ended their lives in that fight.

It was this that the Wizard Marshall was currently contemplating: If a world in which he had died differs from the one he inhabits until it becomes almost unrecognisable exist then is his multi-verse limited to where he and his exists?

It was a perplexing thought. Or at least he thought it a perplexing thought to think and a thought that he did not think upon was a thought wasted... he thought. His idea was this: If there are realities in which he no longer exist is there realities in which he never existed?

He was bored and curious. A very bad combination when one did not forget that this was the Wizard Marshall, the great troll Zelretch who was in this state. It was this that led the rather aged man to collect to himself as much prana as he could to himself and, instead of focusing it on a reality as he usually did when utilizing the kaleidoscope, he focused it exactly the opposite of how he would usually do it.

Nothing happened.

With a Lazy sigh the Wizard Marshall looked a trifle disappointed and went to get out of the cosy fireside chair he was currently ensconced in.

xxxxx

At this point I would like to point out that at times Fate is a real bitch, especially when she misses her monthly ice-cream guzzling fest due to over-working.

Fate had noticed this large amount of prana hanging useless and already beginning to dissipate and decided to have a little fun. She was rather sorry for the trouble she had to cause one green-eyed child she liked to keep a motherly eye on.

Despite being able to do nothing as her existence as a concept forbid it does not mean that she couldn't get a little creative when an opportunity arose, an opportunity like this!

So moving with as much haste as she could she gathered all the prana there was (and there was a damn sight more than she really was expecting form a mortal realm!) and funnelled it all towards her desire. She may be unable to act when she wanted to but the rules never said anything about using a mortal's emissions to her advantage.

She thought of what she could do with all of this prana and then thought of that little green-eyed orphan she liked keeping an eye on. She cast a critical eye on the prana she had collected.

"Should be good enough to alter the destiny of about three dozen all told or at least put a blip in the damn thing"

So saying she funnelled the prana she had gathered out into the multi-verse, specifically at the 36 most unfortunate alternates of the child she had decided to claim as her duty, even beyond the norm.

She waited with baited breath.

She waited once again after taking another breath.

And then she felt the changes. Some where simply minor things that would escalate in due time. One such was a Cat animagus delivering a letter instead of a half-giant, one was a chance conversation with a snake at age nine, one was getting into a car accident that was being driven by a pair of dentists and their bushy-haired daughter and another was passing out with heat exhaustion and fatigue in sight of a nosy librarian.

Some however enacted greater changes in a more immediate time frame and not all of them where pleasant. This was the risk of destiny, it will be fulfilled one way or another but dammit if it won't fight you for every inch it can give and remain as damn ambiguous right 'till the end. One such was the awakening of a soul fragment inside the boy which aggravated his mind until he became a piece of the soul fragment, an extension of it's will. This soul however didn't want to play nicely with it's greater counterpart and would end in a bloody war spanning four decades and leaving the earth drowning in a sea of blood that flowed from the corpses of almost seven billion human corpses. Another would spark the paranoia of an old man with a long white beard that would then build until our young hero would have to face not one but two dark lords simultaneously even if one of them had an army of mutated and reinforced giant lemon drops for minions.

None of this was what had captured Fate's attention right now. There was one reality which had warped and twisted itself almost inside out before settling. What caught her attention here was that she could no longer sense anything from this reality but an intense sense of joy and sorrow, life and death, right and wrong. She focused completely here and came cross a fierce pair of burning green eyes staring back at her with such potential for both benign and malignant ends. This world now balanced on a knife's edge and she had accidentally put the future of an entire reality into the hands of a now five year old boy.

She glanced away in contemplation just in time to miss those green eyes flicker a penetrating grey, then purple, then back to green as they faded from her mind. This was most unexpected. The last thought she had on this reality before she decided to turn away to view the rest under her domain is just what would be so comforting about the scent of blood?

But this is not the story of Fate but of that one child that now holds the balance of the world. What will he do? Will he raise it to the ground? Will he build it up more grand than ever before? Will he rule over it? Will he be remembered in history as a great champion or will he be scorned as a monster? Or perhaps he will fade into the halls of history taking his legacy with him. Only time will tell where even Fate can no longer see, But for now let us turn our gaze onto the world in question and see what fruit whether wholesome or rotten will be born from this ordeal.

xxxxx

Harry Potter was no ordinary child. The neighbourhood of Privet Drive where he lived with his aunt and uncle at number four was as normal and regular as could possible be obtained while strait-jackets for rose-bushes had yet to be invented. The houses were identical right down to the door colour, everything was so exact that if it weren't for the different company cars parked outside you may be forgive for thinking this place a setting for dolls blown out of proportion. Harry however was not a regular child by any stretch of the imagination.

When at a distance he could be mistaken for homeless or perhaps, if he stood still, a scarecrow. When one got closer however they would find themselves pinned against the nearest flat surface, like a bug under a microscope, when confronted by the piercing green eyes of this child. If one could allow their eyes to flicker up they would notice a jagged and ugly wound on his forehead that looked as fresh as it had the day he was left on the doorstep of his relatives. Thankfully his messy black hair covered said disfigurement, at least partly, from view.

Appearance aside Harry was still abnormal by local definition. He had taught himself basic life skills as was necessary. Potty training himself at a tender age quickly followed by basic reading and writing. His abilities in said fields was about the equivalent of a 'regular' twelve year old.

Whereas in a more normal household such dedication to self-improvement would have been praised instead in the Dursleys' it was punished. And punished most severely. How dare he be better at numbers than his precious angel of a cousin Dudley? How could he make his dear cousin look like an unintelligible monkey with brain damage? How dare he out perform any of his cousin's darling playmates?

Each repeated 'infraction' earned him a punishment. From lashing with a belt to starvation in the cupboard under the stairs where he slept at night. Harry had felt it all and could not have cared less. In his young mind a family cared for its own and took care of them like the vague recollections he has of a red-headed woman's laughter or the chuckles of the messy-haired man with a mischievous grin adorning his face. He had often thought long and hard on such topics when his behaviour warranted a long stint in his cupboard. He concluded that as a family is one that cares for and as the Dursleys didn't care for him, much the opposite in fact, then as far as he was concerned then they simply weren't family. If they didn't care for his achievements then so what? He would do his very best so that whoever would become his real family would be impressed and then he could know what a family was like, he could cocoon himself in them and their love of which he would freely return and any that would dare to harm his family would regret it most dearly.

xxxxx

It was on a day like any other when it happened. Coming home after school Harry had his nose in a book he had borrowed from the school library. They had been assigned to read the story by next week and highlight where they had difficulty for their english lesson. Harry wanted it over so he could read more interesting things than singing cheeses dancing with cats in dresses. Dudley had gotten home first so he could play on his brand new Atari ST and bow up aliens or some such on one of the inane games he usually plays.

Getting in the door Harry catches the whiff of alcohol in the air, never a good sign especially as uncle Vernon had a business deal to attend to today. Hoping to slip off to his cupboard unmolested he almost makes it but just as he passes the door to the living room he hears Vernon's slurred tones

"BOY! GET IN HERE NOW!"

Sighing in resignation Harry takes off his bag and sets it aside before going in to encounter mount Vernon. It looked like and eruption was already in progress and judging by the number of empty beer bottles down the side of the chair today was not going to be an easy one nor would it be gentle.

Harry looked up just in time to catch a glint of light before his uncle's belt impacted just above his eyes, very close to the scar that rests on his brow.

The pain is incredible and Harry sees lights flashing all around him as he tries to regain control of his faculties and rein in his nausea. Alas it was not to be.

As he managed to open his again without wincing he looked up again at his uncle who became transfixed by his gaze which developed into rage.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT YOU FREAK OF NATURE! IT'S YOUR UNNATURALNESS THAT IS AFFECTING THIS GOOD FAMILY AND BY GOD ABOVE YOU WILL BE PUNISHED!"

With each word the belt came again and again, faster and more ferocious than ever before. It came down with a meaty thwack across his chest and a wince inducing crack against his arms again and again until with the last bow it tore horizontally across his face the buckle catching against the whites of his eyes.

Writhing in pain he was barely aware of his Uncles ravings but by all hell he felt that last blow across his face. He was almost out of it as his uncle dragged him out into the passage and wrenched the door of the cupboard, hinges and all, throwing young Harry bodily into the small space and further dazing him as Vernon replaced the door and ran to fetch boards and nails.

Incoherent on alcohol and rage Vernon babbled on and on "Stay in there forever!.. Never have to look in those god be damned eyes again... been too good to expect any better from an unnatural freak."

Everything darkening around him Harry wished, he prayed with all his heart that this truly was the end. An end to what he had suffered the last four years. An end to the abuse and trauma that had been his life so far.

Death had been ready to accept him with open arms and make a deal. He wished to avoid the master of Death irritation that so many of the boys alternates seemed to end up in but alas for Death one of his final thoughts were:

'I wonder what a real family is like?'

And his magic reacted.

Death was denied his chance and the boy was whisked away from his cupboard, from his relatives and even from England.

xxxxx

At this point several devices in the office of one Albus Dumbledore slowed and then stopped. Unfortunately for the Headmaster of Hogwarts it had been almost two years since he had last checked them and by now was confident enough in the wards they represented that he no longer felt the need to check them. The dancing instruments now without either audience or purpose stilled their dance and fell silent and no one would be any the wiser.

As this was happening Harry had appeared kneeling on rocky ground. The darkness at the edges of his vision was no longer just a product of imagination. The air around him felt heavy and tainted but he could not find the energy to care. As the last of his vision was swallowed in darkness he caught a glimpse of two young women approaching slowly and carefully. The odd thing about them apart from their unusual white dresses which where reminiscent of ancient Greece was the colour of both their hair and eyes.

Purple.


	2. Two of the Three

AN: I've just made a forum for discussing this as I am currently writing this of the top of my head, literally. You can find it here:

forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

Reviews are appreciated as this is the first fic I've ever wrote and I need to know what to tone down and what to improve so please be honest. that's it, thanks and now read the new chapter.

Chapter 2 – two of the three

Harry came to slowly and felt everything around him as he became reacquainted with his five senses. He felt firm ground beneath his back, preferable to the rocky and jagged terrain from when he was last aware. He heard the wind a distance away as it blew past wherever he was. He could taste how dry the air around him was and there was an earthy scent to everything. Perhaps he was indoors somewhere and could smell the garden out of a window. That was until he opened his eyes. He looked around at the cave in which he lay. There was nothing about it that seemed particularly unusual but something had him on edge, it may have been how clean everything was or how smooth the floor and walls where.

"Έτσι, ο μικρός άνθρωπος είναι ξύπνιος τότε;" a voice nehind him made him jump.

"Φαίνεται έτσι. Αναρωτιέμαι ποιο λόγο θα δώσει για την παρουσία του στο νησί μας."

He turned and saw the two women from before he lost conciousness. They where beautiful, with the apearance of late teens if not for their rather exotic colouring. They had long purple hair tied in two tails either side of their head that almost reached the floor. They wore unusual dresses edged in black and wore matching bands across the top of their hair and some sort of choker around their necks and upper arms. One had three purple bangles around her right arm where the other ddn't. This was really the only physical indicator that differentiated them as they where nigh identical. The only other thing that was different was their bearing. The one with the bangles on her wrist was eying him warily with her arms crossed in front of her and had been the second one to speak. The other had an air of mischief about herself that was at odds with her twins cautious manner. Both once again had identical light purple eyes that told a story all of their own. They contained a number of emotions but the only ones he could pick up was sadness and a touch of regret.

"e-excuse me but I don't understand you. Can you speak english?" Harry asked timidly.

"περίεργος. Αυτό ακούγεται παράξενο δεν είναι; Αναρωτιέμαι τι λέει; Είναι σίγουρα δεν είναι ελληνική." the first said with curiosity evident in her voice.

"Φαίνεται όχι. Δεν φαίνεται καν να γνωρίζουν πού είναι ή ποιοι είμαστε. Δυστυχώς, χωρίς να μιλούν την ίδια γλώσσα δεν είμαστε στερημένοι από τους τρόπους για να τον αμφισβητήσει." The other said in a more bland tone "Αναρωτιέμαι αν ένα φίδι θα μπορούσε να φοβίσει κάποιο νόημα γι 'αυτόν;" She then walked past him to the mouth of the cave. His eyes tracked her as he shuffled up against the wall trying to keep the other woman in his peripheral view. While he hd no reeason to distrust them he had learned by now in his few short years that doesn't mean he should trust anyone without reason.

Euryale watched as her sister passed by the boy on her way to fetch a snake and wondered how this boy would react. Since the loss of their sister so long ago each had found an emotional outlet to prevent them falling into the same state as their poor sister had. Whereas Euryale had found that not taking everything seriously allowed her attention to wander and not focus on the negative memories she possesed, Stheno taken to being pretty much ambivalent to anything and everything that occured, Sun rose in the east? Yeah it does that, aa tree has grown from seedling to mighty oak? Yeah, I saw it happen, Rondom child appears out of thin air? Drag him up to the cave and keep a careful watch over him just in case. This had been the most unusual thing in recent times, hell it had been pretty much the only thing of note in the past three millenia since they had lost their younger sister. Since then no-one had entered their island and they had not left. It seemed humans were no longer capable of visiting them wether there intentions be pure or debased. She wondered what had happened in the passing of time. However one thing she had noticed that Stheno had paid no attention to was the injuries the child bore. Stheno might not care other than it showed he was not strong enough to do anything to them but Euryale had a slight feeling of unease. As far as she could tell the marks where put there with human strength and looked to be meant as a means of torture, honestly! Humans could be sure unpleasant beings at times.

After Stheno had left Harry looked at the other one and she looked to be evaluating him. A look of disgust crossed her face and Harry hoped he was not the cause of that as he was in no position to fight back if attacked even if the attacker was a half-dead poodle.

Steps from the cave mouth alerted him to the return of the other of the duo. He turned to her and his eyes widened and his nostrils slitted in fear. Draped over her neck was a huge snake almost as thick as his own torso and long enough that despite wrapping around her neck and body still trailed a ways behind her.

He froze as the large reptile uncurled from the woman and slithered towards him. It was about two feet away when Harry broke out of his daze and began muttering under his breath "_Please don't eat me, Please don't eat me_" not noticing the two women turn and look at him sharply. The snake also seemed to recoil in surprise.

Then Harry froze as something new happened, and he had thought he'd fulfilled his quota of strangeness already, the snake spoke.

"_So you are not unintelligent are you man-child, what are you doing here on the island of my mistresses?_" it questioned dragging out and hissing all the s's.

"_I don't know where I am, I am sorryto say I don't even know who your mistresses are and could you please say sorry to them for me?_"

It was then that Euryale couldn't hold it any longer. She giggled. Drawing the looks of Stheno and the child along with the snake. She looked from Stheno who had raised an eyebrow at her to the child looking at her with hesitant eyes to the snake next to him that had a knowing glint in its eyes. To think that after all this time alone on the shapeless isle and the first human that has arrived in three thousand years and he speaks the language of snakes? She giggled once again before devolving into a laughing fit from the sheer irony of it all.

The snake looked from the gorgon convulsing in laughter to the other who still stood in the cave mouth and spoke "_Seeing as your sister is so out of sorts at present please may I convey this lad's apology to you for his semmingly unknowing trespassfrom him to you_"

"_My thanks to you and my sister has always been a few trees short of a forest so it is no great loss_"

Harry looked at the woman for a moment before remembering his voice "_I thought you couldn't speak english?_"

"_English? Was that the language you spoke before? Nevertheless listen to yourself now. You are no more speaking english than I am speaking greek right now. You are speaking the language of snakes as can be confirmed by our scaled friend here._"

Harry blinked and looked from the woman to the snake, back to the woman and finally to the snake again who nodded at him. Now many people would be freaked out long before they got to this point but Harry had far passed that point and as nothing had yet happened to him he decided to relax a little and take what was presented him at face value.

Stheno seeing the boy relax a little decided they might as well get introductions out of the way "_Seeing as this is the only language we share it would be best to converse like this for now. Now that it seems my sister has gotten past her convulsions it would be remiss of us not to introduce ourselves as it seems you__ do not know us and then we can find out the means by which you arrived here. My name is Stheno and hers is Euryale and may I ask for yours?_"

This was surreal for Stheno. She was having a civil conversation with a human and he didn't come here either voluntarily or seeking her beauty and, on top of that, they were speaking as snakes would. Perhaps this particular human wasn't so bad she thought.

Harry had also paused but for a completely different reason. He had read books at school and borrowed ones from the library. Myths and legends had been the only books that the Dursley's allowed that even suggested the existence of a more supernatural world, one of gods and monsters and ones of magic and heroes. He hd paused because he had recognised the two names she had used as an introduction.

"_My name is Harry. Excuse me but did you say your names where Stheno and Euryale?_" Harry questioned. Stheno blinked at this but replied in the affirmative. After being questioned why he responded gaining Euryale's attention as well this time.

"_As far as I am aware those two names are the names of two of the gorgon sisters from greek mythology but they seem to be somewhat innacurate_"

It was Euryale who asked this time "_Oh? Innacurate in what way? And what do you mean by us being myths?_"

"_Well as far as I was aware there was no such thing as the gorgons or gods. The heroes mentioned are just story characters and the legends just more stories. In the gorgon myth Medusa was a handmaiden and she and Posieden where having sex in Athena's temple and Athena cursed Medusa and her sisters to be ugly forever. Medusa was supposed to be so ugly that the mere sight of her face turned anyone who looked at her to stone. They where exiled to the shapeless isle where they terrorized humans for a long time. Stheno was supposed to be the most vicous of the three. Later a hero by the name of Perseus came along and removed Medusa's head, He was able to see by looking in her reflection in a polished shield. He left with his prize, her head and used it to stop a sea monster if I recall correctly as he kept her head in a bag and then revealed it to a sea serpent. Perseus only comment on Medusa's fate was that it was 'well deserved'. The only continuation of the story was the two children of Medusa, A pegasus and a warrior named Chrysaor who both sprang from the decapitated neck of Medusa's corpse, the latter already clad in golden armour and fully grown. The only other aspect of the legend is the gorgons supposedly having snakes for hair. There are variations of this such as one where Posieden raped Medusa instead of her making love willingly but that is the general story as I know it'_"

The two sisters looked at each other and blinked, stunned by what they had heard. The humans no longer knew they existed? They did not even believe them possible? Even more amusing they thought all of their heroes of old to be nothing more than childrens' stories? But they had gotten it wrong and Stheno immediatley set to rectify that with this one child, Harry he had said his name was.

"_As for being two of the gorgon sisters that is correct but that is almost all that is correct. We where never human hand-maidens, we where born from the wishes of people that desired perfect gods unlike the flawed gods the greeks worshipped. We came into being as we are and our sister Medusa was the youngest but unlike us was born a mortal, long-lived surely but as a mortal she still aged while we remained unchained. As for turning people to stone she had something known as mystic eyes, eyes that can affect the world they see. The mystic eyes of Cybele that our sister possesed can indeed turn mortal flesh to stone with no chance of it being reversed. As far as lying with a male, not one of us three have lost our virginity and the pegasus you mentioned was a gift from Posieden, not a child. Chrysaor is not a name I recognise and as none of us have slept with another then he could not be a gorgon's child. In older days we lived amongst the people and lived a happy life. The only regret that we possess is making fun of our sister's eyes and advancing age which I freely admit was most childish of us. This was not to last forever as the gods grew angered and turned our people against us. We were banished here to the Shapeless Isle as it is known. The beauty of myself and my sister was known far and wide. Men came to claim us for their own and Medusa took to gaurding the island and devouring those who sought after our beauty. She became twisted by peoples' beliefs. Eventually she transformed into a monster by appearance and we knew we had lost her. We did not want to leave her and allowed ourselves to be consumed by her hoping to be closer to her and to soothe her pain. We were eaten by our sister but like the gods when consumed by kronos we did not die a final death. We remained within her for a long time. The next clear memory I possess is waking next to my sister's rotting corpse, the decay must have freed us from her stomach. The occasional man would sill come to the island intending to gain our favour but that slowly stopped, from them we learnt how our sister expired, being the only mortal one of us, and what we have heard of this Perseus is less than flattering. An nflated ego and with no redeeming qualities or skills to his name other than being an opportunist. We have been here since then, some two thousand years since the last man arrived to woo us._"

Euryale took over from her sister "_You can stay the night and we can see about returning you to your family come morning. If the gods truly have no hold on the world then we no longer have reason to remain here as there is none to enforce our banishment._" Noticing the wince at the mention of his family Euryale's eyes narrowed. The wounds on his body had been put there by human hand undoubtedly but was it possible... "_Harry, who gave you your wounds?_" she asked, her voice taking on a dangerous edge. She and Stheno may have made fun of Medusa's differences but it was not done out of mailce, they where a family after all, they where all each other had. Stheno's gaze met hers and sharpened. If there was one thing they agreed on it was that family was important, they had after all willingly let their sister consume them and there were few others who would do that, even for family.

Harry mulled over his thoughts. He could tell them or he could not tell them. If he did what then? They might not return him to them then and he would be free or they may not even believe him and send him back anyway. On the other hand he might not tell them but that would leave him floundering for an answer to where he got them. It was personal but he also lost nothing by telling them. So, with this in mind, hr braced himself, took a breath and began.

"_My uncle, he blames me for anything that goes wrong, he sometimes beats me or locks me in a cupboard under the stairs without food. This was a really bad one though, he had lost a big business deal earler and was already drunk when I got home. I tried to sneak past but he noticed me before I could escape._"

Euryale and Stheno once again met gazes. They silently acknowledged that such a thing was utterly reprehensible. They agreed that now that they were free of their confinement they would pay a visit to Harry's dear relatives before they did anything else. They wanted to see the world and how it had changed and now they had the chance. Even before they where banished they had never seen much more than their island but they had heard stories of all sorts near and far and longed for the day they could experience it themselves. If things where as Harry here said then they supposed one more trsvel companion would not be amiss. Then Euryale said it was his uncle who did this. Where were his parents when this was happening?

"_Harry, what about your mother and father? Why didn't they do anything about this?_"

Harry shuffled his feet a moment before replying "_They're dead, they died when I was one. My aunt and uncle say they died in a car crash while drunk but I don't know what really happened, somehow I don't believe them_"

"_A car crash? What is a car?_" Euryale asked. It was this that reminded Harry that despite their apparent youth the two women in front of him had been out of contact with the rest of the world since the time of the roman empire. Before he could reply Stheno interrupted his thoughts "_It doesn't matter right now. Right now it's late and we will sleep before setting off tomorrow. Harry has been out of it for a day and we have yet to feed him. I believe there are a few fruit trees nearby that are in season and then we shall sleep._" With that she turned and left the cave in search of sustenance for Harry. Euryale blinked, shrugged and then turned to Harry "_While my sister is doing that let's see if I can do anything for your wounds_"

xxxxx

It wasn't until Harry found himself tucked between the two gorgons as they where going to sleep with the snake curled up at their feet and comfortably full on a most unusual fruit he did not recognise that Harry finally thought 'Perhaps things won't be so bad after all'.

As he drifted off to sleep the world outside their cave kept going as it always had and one particular Wizard Marshall sitting alone in the clocktower remembered yesterday's experiment and wondered if anything would come of it, not realising yet that it already had.


	3. Harry's Family

AN: Okay I started typing this up at two AM and it's now ten.

Here I'm trying to get the pace set. I'm thinking the next chapter will be the ritual and its results.

After that I think I'll have a chapter of snippets of his childhood until eleven.

If there is anyone you'd like him to meet or some event you'd like to happen then please either message me it, review it or something but I'd prefer it if the forum I made the other day actually saw someone other than me it's at:

forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

so ciao for now and enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 3 – Harry's Family

Zelretch was by no means a normal person even by magus standards. He did not crave the discovery of all things magical and he did not do repulsive acts to get there. He was however a true prankster at heart. Few could forget the tricks he has managed, despite numerous atempts at trying. He did what he felt like doing when he felt like doing it.

Despite all of this he still had quite a curious nature, it was how he remained sane, and he wondered if yesterday's experiment had done anything at all. He reached out through the multiverse he knew in search of his own prana. He looked and looked but it seemed to ellude him. He could tell it had been there at least but it seemed to have made a path of its own. He grew rather excited at this and followed the trail to wherever it might lead.

Two hours later and he was confused. He had felt the worlds his prana had gone to and was extatic that it was a success. Then he realised that there was something missing. He had felt his prana affect 36 worlds and it seemed as if the same child nad been affected each and every time, most curious in itself, but there seemed to be something else different. He looked closer at each one. The first had the child who had been found and adopted by a coven of veela on holiday, now that was going to be really 'lucky' when he grew up at the rate things where going, the second one had found a musty old book in his school's library, a book on basic magic theory, that would set him in good stead in years to come. And so it went on until, twenty third world and this kid... wow. Just, just what the heck? Not even going to try and understand that one. Right onto the twenty fourth an-, wait, the kid's not here? Huh, perhaps that's what I'm sensing he said pulling out of that world and still thinking about that one child he came back to himself. Stretching he pulled his focus back from these new worlds and to himself only to stop as a blip made itself known. The Wizard Marshall froze, his jaw hanging low.

xxxxx

If anyone had walked passed the Wizard Marshall's quarters at that time they would have been concerned to hear the hearty guffaws that emanated from within. When the Wizard Marshall so much as smirked everyone was on edge in the clock tower. No one had forgotten the time when Zelretch had done something to the gateau in the cafateria and the hair of everyone who ate it had turned purple with green stripes for a week. There was a small group of the younger students trying to work out just how he had managed that one without any success so far. The merest chuckle from him would make those who had been around consider taking their research out for a field test or the enforcers to consider taking a job regardless of what it was just to get out of there for a while.

xxxxx

Back in his quarters Zelreatch had gotten himself under control. To think that the child had ended up in this world of all places. The chances of something like that happening were astronomical at the least! He paused. How old was the child in his world again? Five wasn't it? This was a little uncomfortable for the Wizard Marshall as the youngest he ever started messing with had been hormonal teenagers at least. A five year old all alone in a world he would know nothing about. A world that might not even follow the same laws of reality that his did. It was this that made up his mind. He couldn't send the child back to his own world. No! He had seen what his relatives had done to him and they where by far the worst of those he had taken a look at. The child had accepted his prana so with a bit of pushing maybe he could get the child to learn the kaleidoscope and he could take the boy as his apprentice. Granted an apprentice so young was abnormal but it was the only feasable reason he would be able to take the lad on and perhaps some of his counterparts had gotten it wrong. Instead of taking on that Rin girl or sometimes that Luviageleta he would take on a younger child that would be able to adapt more easily. If that failed he could still take that Rin Tohsaka on as the fourth grail war had come to an end about a year ago and if his timeline followed others liek it then the fifth would be in another nine years. The boy would be fourteen then and he could see if he had adapted to learning the kaleidoscope from him.

He checked where he felt the pulse from. Just off the coast from Greece, an island it would seem. Strange it felt like there was an active bounded field up around it keeping people from even knowing it was there. He could only feel it because that was where the child he was searching for was. He would wait until it was early morning where the child was to make himself known and make his offer to the boy, he would probably react better to that than being woken in the middle of the night. With this he pulled himself up from his chair and decided to have a wander through the clock tower until five in the morning as seven seemed a reasonable time to meet the young lad and Greece was two hours ahead.

On his wanderings Zelretch wondered what the boy would think of it. Would he gravitate towards the researchers perhaps? Would he instead gravitate towards the more active and open enforcers? Perhaps he would find common ground in London as a whole outside of the clock tower. As he was pondering all this Zelretch rounded a corner right into a young man that had recently gained the title of El-Mellio, a certain Waver Velvet, survivor of the fourth holy grail war and a more open-minded magus than most, yes, maybe this is the sort of magus who would be a good influence on the boy when he returned.

"Good evening lord El-Mellio" he said clearly. Waver jumped at this, he had not been paying much attention and was quite tired as it was about three in the morning. Piled on top of that was the fact that the Wizard Marshall himself was addressing him directly.

"Good evening W-Wizard Marshall Zelretch" He stuttered a little in surprise. He grew even more nervous as Zelretch looked him up and down as if considering something.

"Yes, perhaps he is the best candidate..." Zelretch muttered under his breath yet Waver still managed to hear it and this sent his hyperactive imagination on a wild ride, after all Zelretch had a reputation of having a most unstable sense of humor.

"Could you come to the quarters next to mine this morning perhaps around eight?" Zelretch queried. He thought it best to get an introduction out of the way as soon as possible to give the boy a chance to integrate into the clock tower as gently as possible and most magi weren't exactly normal by most peoples standards but Waver Velvet was perhaps the most down to earth amongst them.

"Very well Wizard Marshall, I will be there" Waver replied. This could be a mixed blessing, after all almost no one in the clock tower had a direct link to Zelretch and if he managed to forge one then his standing in the clock tower would rise but then again there was the problem of what exactly the aged vampire wanted with him.

"Excellent!" Zelretch exclaimed "But there's no need for such formality, simply Zelretch would be fine or even Zel, Heaven knows what my mother was thinking when she named me" At this Waver's eye twitched. He too had a most unusual name and the queen of the clock tower bore the name Lorelei, it seemed a prerequisite of being a magus was to have an unusual name. As Waver watched Zelretch's retreating back he wondererd what on earth he'd agreed to.

xxxxx

Harry awoke to sunlight shining between purple strands of hair. It seemed that the two gorgons had cuddled up to him during the night. It was comfortable but Harry was used to waking early to get a start on breakfast that Petunia had started him making about four months ago. He was scolded pretty harshly when he messed. Once he had burnt the bacon and Petunia had but his arm against the red hot burner on the stove and poured hot grease over his arm. It was one of the few times that he had screamed from a punishment and for that he was locked in his cupboard for three days without food.

He wiggled himself free from between the two sisters managing not to disturb them, unaware of how many men would kill to be where he had just been. The snake at his feet stirred and raised itself to his eye height.

"_What are you doing up this early nestling?_" the snake enquired

"_I go to get breakfast for us. Please could you show me where to retrieve the fruit from yesterday good sir snake?_" At this the snake stopped and then seemed to make rapid short hissing sounds that didn't make any sense to Harry until he thought

"_Are you laughing at me?_" He asked of the snake.

"_My apologies nestling. I was just surprised is all. Never have I been adressed such. It was certainly unique, nevertheless I am not a male snake but female_" Harry was horrified that he had just insulted the snake and said to her "_Oh! I am so sorry. I meant no offense by what I said. Please accept my apology_" he bowed before her.

"_It is fine nestling. I take no offense when none is offered._" Harry thought for a moment and realised he did not even know the name of the snake in front of him, if snakes even had names, and decided to try and rectify his mistake.

"_My apologies miss.I am sorry but I don't even know your name. I am Harry and what may I call you?_" The snake took a moment to observe him before answering "_As a serpent I am called she-who-hunts-the-larger-prey due to my prodigous size but those two have taken to calling my Alysa which in the human tongue means princess and I would not be averse to you using it as well._" she stopped and looked out of the cave mouth "_Now, if you wish to collect fruit, we must be off if we wish to return before your nest-mates awaken Harry_" And with that she slithered out of the cave and of to the left with Harry following close behind.

It was fun. That was what Harry was thinking as he collected the fruit with Alysa. He had not been ordered to do it but he did anyway and he enjoyed it. He climbed the lower limbs of the tree getting the larger fruits while Alysa coiled herself around it to claim the smaller sweeter fuits in the higher reaches which she knocked down for him to catch.

Heading back to the cave alongside Alysa he got deep into conversation about the island with her. It seemed to be a smallish island of the coast of Greece that had enough natural resources to supply a small village if one was in the mood for fish with every meal. He was so engrossed into what Alysa was telling him that he didn't notice they were back until a voice interrupted them.

"_Well, this explains where our little teddy bear went this morning_" Euryale yawned sleepily "_And here I was thinking Alysa had made a snack out of you_" Harry handed her one of the fruits as he sat down and placed the others next to him, taking one for himself. Stheno reached out and took one two.

"_I'll be glad to leave this Island if only for the food. All we ever seem to eat is fish and fruit. It's been too long since I've had bread or meat._" Harry supposed it must have been at least two thousand years considering that was when they's had their last visitor. Oddly he didn't feel particularly off thinking that these two had probably eaten human flesh. It was simply a part of who they are and Harry readily accepted that. It was as the had finished off the fruit that they stood up, dusted themselves off and turned to leave that something unexpected happened. Granted the unexpected should be expected by this point but it's not every day you see a man appear from thin air.

xxxxx

Zelretch had thought he would find a scraed and alone child when he decided to appear before the boy. He thought that this would have been a deserted island with nothing more than plants and animals on it. He certainly didn't expect to find him in the company of two women who where even now edging infront of him and a large snake that was eyeing him as if it was sizing him up. One of the women said something he didn't recognise. It was a language he hadn't bothered to learn this time but with the kaleidoscope magic available he synchronised his mind with his alternates and between them they knew all languages spoken on the earth. It was a decided advantage when going abroad. It seemed that the woman had asked who he was and it was in Greek too. He decided to reply in the same language.

"My, lady I am Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg also known as the Wizard Marshall or the Kaleidoscope. I came here looking for a young boy about five years of age and, unless my guess is off, that is him you are defending. May I know your names now that I have given mine?" The two women looked at each other then their eyes flickered towards the boy behind them.

"My name is Stheno and this is my sister Euryale. Forgive the boy but he can't speek Greek but a language known as English." The one on the left replied.

"No problem" Zelretch said "English is a language I can also speak" he switched languages at this point to address Harry "As I said to these lovely ladies my name is Kischur Zelretch Shweinorg but I have also been called the Wizard Marshall or the Kaleidoscope. May I know your name?"

Harry looked at Stheno and Euryale and seeing nothing he decided to reply to the strange man "My name is Harry Potter, sir. Can I ask why you are here?"

"I am here young Harry because of you. Do you know where you are?" He asked the boy while looking him over. Partially dressed wounds spoke of a most severe beating but they looked to be a little older than a day so it was unlikely the two in front of him that did it, especially the way they had taken a gaurded stance in front of him. Then the Wizard Marshall was surprised as the child hissed at the women in front of him and the one on the right Euryale hissed back. This was obviously another language but it seemed not a single one of his alternates understood it! Most intriguing. Harry once again addressed Zelretch.

"I am on the Shapeless Isle sir, Just off the coast of Greece." Zelretch blinked in surprise. The Shapless Isle was the home of the three gorgon sisters from greek mythology. He looked again at the two women and concluded that yes, they looked like they could be siblings of the rider class servant most often summoned in the fifth grail war. Something else that was rather interesting.

"Well that may well be true but there is more to it than that. You see, the kaleidoscope, the magic I wield, is responsible for the operation of alternate worlds. I was performing an experiment the other day and part of the side effects seem to have brought you from your world to mine here. I was going to offer to take you under my wing and become my aprentice and come to London with me."

Harry's eyes sparkled. This man wanted to teach him magic? He quickly relayed what the man had said to Stheno and Euryale. They conversed between the three of them and collectively decided it would be a good way to get of their island and into the world. It would be better to know someone than no one they thought. After the quick conversation Harry turned to Zelretch once again.

"I would be honoured to accept your offer but I don't wish to be seperated from my companions and we were trying to think of ways of this island so we could see the world. Could we all go together?"

Zelretch blinked and then got a rather mischevious grin on his face. If he was right and these two were Medusa's sisters then what better prank to pull on the clock tower than have two of the greek myths walking round the clock tower without them realising it. He may have decided to take responsibility of Harry but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy himself at the same time.

"I have no issue with that at all but there will be a language barrier until they can speak english. I suppose you could translate for them for now. I must ask what that hissing is you keep doing. It is not a language I recognise and I do think of myself as knowledgable about languages." Harry once more coversed with the two gorgons in that hissing language he could make no sense of before he spoke to the Wizard Marshall once more.

"They said that is fine with them and the language we are speaking is the tongue of serpents. It allows one to converse with snakes. We don't know how I can speak it but Stheno asks if you could find out any information on it in my homeworld,"

Zelretch raises an eyebrow. A language to talk to snakes was certainly an interesting skill to have and if he'd heard the lad right then he was not taught it but it came to him naturally. Most curious. He would most certainly check this world out if it was capable of such things.

"I will do that. In fact how about we get you settled into the clock tower right now and I will depart for your world and return with as much as I can this evening." The hissing was back once again as Harry relayed the conversation to the other two. Stheno gave the man an evaluating look, he had reacted to their names and it seems may know who they are but he hadn't treated them any differently and she supposed she could agree to this. Information on an entirely different world may prove interesting and at least they now knew someone on the outside. The three of them looked at each other and then to zelretch they where about to nod their accpetance when Alysa interrupted them and requested that she join them too. Once Harry posed the question to Zelretch he agreed as he saw no problem with it and it could give some of the magi at the clock tower a good scare with its size. Zelretch then raised his arms and everyone of them felt disorientated for a moment as they saw an uncountable number of lights flash by before they stopped in what looked to be a study of some kind. As soon as they landed Harry crashed to the floor and Euryale landed on top of him. Stheno just managed to keep her feet inspite of stumbling.

Grumbling to himself as Euryale got up and then helped him to his feet Harry took a good look around. There was a desk and chair against one wall with a set of shelves next to it absolutely stuffed full of tomes of all kinds. There was ordinary looking books, Harry even thought he saw a copy of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, then there was the unusual ones which seemed to be rough-cut like olden day parchment and had titles like 'a treatise onthe use of gems in bounded fields and their effects', there was also the downright weird ones like a scroll with a wax seal with some kind of runes etched into the wax. Along the wall to the right of that was a large open fire that was burning brightly and suffusing the room with it's warnth. Behind him in the corner nearest the fire was a large comfy looking armchair, and judging by thewear on it, it seemed to get a lot of use. The door was to their left and it was through their that Zelretch lead them into a room that looked like it was used for greeting guests and had a coffee table and chairs around it. This room had several doors of it but it was the one on the right that they took out into the corridor. They walked down the corridor to the next door where Zelretch inserted a key and opened for them. Walking in there was armchairs and a coffee table again but this room had none of the little extras the last one did such as the wine rack in the corner or the paintings on the walls. Zelretch stopped and turned to them.

"These are to be your rooms now. There are three bedrooms off here as is standard. Sleeping arrangements are all up to you. There should be someone along to guide you pretty soon I did tell him to meet here at eight. Any questions before he turns up?" After a quick discussion amingst themselves it seemed Harry would once again be spokesperson.

"Erm, sir how are we supposed to get clothes and things and bandages and stuff like that?" he asked

"Don't worry I have more money than I know what to do with and your guide could take you where you need to go." This seemed to answer one question they had but it looked like there was more to come.

"Thank you sir. Can I ask what we are to do here? I know Stheno and Euryale will need to learn the language to interact without me but even then what are we to do around here?" He looked enquiringly up at Zelretch.

"The clock tower is primarily a research institute. As such you will find a lot of researchers here. I will be teaching you all I know of magic and I guess we'd best sign you up for a local school. You seem a smart lad I'm sure you'll manage. There are also enforcers here in addition to researchers and they are the fighters who apply there magic in fights. They train with each other in arenas regularly if you wish to watch them and magi frequently bet on them. Your two companions are free to do as they please. They can learn alonside you or they can accept missions to hunt down rouge magi and rampant dead apostles too. If they have any hobbies then they can indulge in them too." Harry looked satisfied with this and quickly hissed what had been said to the two others with him. His lip twitched a bit at something Euryale said and looked a little surprised at Stheno before he turned back once again to Zelretch.

"Thank you sir. Euryale is asking if anyone wouldn't mind some tricks being played here and there and Stheno wishes to research history as it has passed. They both also want to know about anything we can find out about my own world too as would I. I never knew magic existed before the other day." Zelretch laughed at Euryale's comment and nodded at Stheno's request. He agreed to both saying it would be good to loosen up the stuffy magi around here and it would be certainly interesting what someone who had experienced old times and beeen isolated since think of how the world had developed.

It was at this point that there came a knock at the door. Opening it revealed Waver Velvet a little early. Waver looked quizically at those gathered here: The Wizard Marshall, a five year old and two young women who looked more than a little odd. It sounded like the start of the joke and Waver was concerned he would be the punchline. "You asked for me Wizard Marshall?"

The other three in the room looked at him curiously before looking towards Zelretch who responded. "Ah yes, Waver Velvet. I was hoping you could do me the honour of showing my guests around both the clock tower and local London. The lad here is Harry Potter and soon to be my aprentice. The young ladies will accompany him and unfortunately they don't speak english for which Harry will be a translator. I was also hoping that you and my soon to be aprentice could form a friendly relationship between you two. He's a smart kid and heavens knows you're one of the few magi here with any common sense." Waver looked and the boy, Harry, semmed to be hissing? To Waver's surprise the two women hissed back. What on earth kind of language was that? Zelretch spoke again.

"They will also need appropiate attire for England. I have made my funds available to you so you won't have to worry about finances. Just please get reciepts while you are out." Waver was stunned. Letting another magus have access to your money, even if it was only temporarily, was a great sign of trust usually absent amongst magi where back-stabbing was common. Then again, who is suicidal enough to try and backstab the Wizard Marshall of all people!

"I will do my best Wizard Marshall" Waver replied wondering why Zelretch would want an aprentice so young and what the story was behind these three.

"Well then I will see you all later" and with that Zelretch disappeared.

xxxxx

Zelretch reappeared in Harry's world, near central London but there was no clock tower here as there was in his home dimension nor was there an equivalent of it. Zelretch started casting about in search of concentrated of prana that would indicate a community of magic users. Surprisingly it was rather close by just south of Trafagar square at Charing Cross. There he found what looked to be a somewhat rundown looking pub named the Leaky Cauldron. He chuckled somewhat when he noticed the bounded field. Examining it he found it redirected the attention of those without active what? Circuits wasn't the right word for what allowed him to see it but it seemed that the bounded field found them a good enough substitute for what it was actually looking for. There was also something else that set this bounded field apart from what he knew. He couldn't feel how it was woven together. The beginning and the end was the same. You had to designate the are you wish it to be and you needed to add an effect for it to function. The steps inbetween however didn't match what he knew. For a bounded field you saturated the area in prana and used that to define the area then you either imposed your will upon it by self hypnotism or utulized runes and forced the prana to flow to them that would define the effects. Here it seemed that an area or object was designated then an effect was chosen followed by a small amount of prana that triggered the effects and then sustained itself off ambient mana. He decided he'd stared at the bounded field long enough and he couldn't get anything more out of it despite how he might wish to.

As he walked to the door he wondered if that was the difference between his world and this one, how magic was expressed and used. The sight that met his eyes stopped that thoguht in a veritable train wreck. He had found an area truly rich in prana and when he entered a place that could be described as_ seedy_ at best and squallid wouldn't be far wrong either, Was this the entrance to such a large concentration of magic? He frowned and decided to withhold judgement for now as he followed the greatest source of prana out the back and came rather abruptly to a brick wall and some bins. Now he was really confused, the prana was strong just the other side of this wall but how to get past it? He decided to follow his common sense and examined the wall with basic structual analysis. He found one bring three along and two up that frequently had prana pushed into it. He decided to apply a little of his own prana as if he was reinforcing the brick. To his surprise the brick reacted.

He stepped back and watched as the bricks collapsed into themselves forming an archway into the busy street. He stepped forwards and looked around. There were people in robes and cloaks bustling all over the place and surprised himwas that their was a clear space over to his left that seemed reserved for something. That something became obvious when a magus of this world appeared with a loud crack and began walking down the street as if he hadn't just utilised some form of true magic as a means to get his shopping done. He looked again at the people milling about and sighed. The magi might be a bit dated in terms of dress but these people were stereotyping themselves to the extreme. A magus at the clock tower may wear what is essentially victorian formal wear or tudor or something else but they never wore robes. They were so impractical. It would be so easy to trip while wearing them and that could spell disaster for a magi's experiment if it was a difficult brew or required an intricate formalcraft circle that had just been smudged. Enforcers especially would not wear something so impractical but rather lean towards more modern clothing like slacks and shirts thar could wasily have runes stitched on to them or be easily reinforced.

He looked at the stores with greater interest. Here was something of note. There were all kinds of shops from something almost mundane like quill and parchment to some truly unusual like that one with the flying broomstick in the window. He noticed an official looking building at the end of the street and decided that was as good a place as any to start. As he approached the double doors he got another look at how this world differed from his own. Standing either side of the doors were some sort of creatures he did not recognise. They were rather short with long fingers and had an expression as if they were scrutinising everyone that come before them. The halberd each one held in its hand was long curved and wicked looking. Zelretch had no doubt they could gut someone with ease. He nodded to each gaurd as he passed them, not noticing the raised eyebrow his actions recieved not did he notice their confused and cautious gaze as their eyes drilled a hole in his back.

After reading the delightful little message etched into the wall Zelretch looked around himself curiously. The walls were lined with desks with the creatures from outside sat and busying themselves with tasks that seemed predominantly to revolve around ledgers or directing clients. He surmised this a bank of some sort, an excellent place to start his search. He approached the teller with the shortest line right behind a rather severe looking older woman with the oddest vulture topped hat he had ever seen. At her side was a boy about Harry's age who seemed to quivering with nerves. "Now look Neville," the woman started severely "Goblins respect a firm will, profit and honour. Don't show weakness, don't try and take their wealth and do NOT look down on them or insult them," The boy, Neville apparently, was rather cowed by the woman's tone and replied with a simple 'Yes Gran' before they were called up to the teller.

So these are goblins are they? They certainly look somewhat like he'd imagine them to, he supposed. He wonder why they seem to be in charge of the economy? That woman claimed they respect profit, so he guessed that would account for their interest in monetary matters and those gaurds scattered about are for more than just show lending belief to them being a warrior race. Interesting.

"Next!" The teller called after that Neville and his Gran had left. "Yes, What do you want?" The goblin had a rather rough voice as if he was gargling rocks.

"I would like to get these jewels converted to an appropriate currency and if possible I wish to speak to someone regarding legal matters such as adoption and the like if that please you master goblin?" Zelretch requested rather cordially.

The goblin looked him up and down and furrowed his brow as if something wasn't making sense to him.

"You can get your jewels converted to wizarding currency at the three desks at the far left and then you can see Ripsnout about that adoption you mentioned. Rolcaff!" he called and another goblin came forwards "Take this one to get his jewels changed and then take him to Ripsnout." The goblin nodded and headed off to the left and Zelretch followed.

When they reached the far end the goblin Rolcaff called to the only occupied desk "Wizard here to get some jewels converted to gold" The goblin looked up and Zelretch took notice how this goblin also scrunched his face up in confusion when confronted by him. "Let's see 'em then" was all he said, Zelretch retrieved a number of jewels from his pocket. He placed them on the desk and lifted his hand to reveal several rubies, saphires, diamonds and a rather large emerald.

The Golin picked up some sort of eyeglass that ahd faint runes still visible on the well-worn rim. He studied them and then his eyes widened rather comically. "These are some high quality gemstones wizard" the goblin commented

"Yes, I know" was all he replied. The goblin said nothing further as he thoroughly checked the gems before putting them on a scale before speaking again. "The rubies will net you two hundred galleons, the diamond and saphires the same and the single emerald will net you eighty. Do you want it all converted?" Zelretch wondered on the respective value of the pound to the galleon but just said.

"Yes, if you would not mind," The goblin gave him another look before saying.

"Right, I'll be back in a moment with a bottomless money purse and your gold." and so saying, he left.

When he returned he had a leather pouch that looked like it could hold no more than perhaps thirty two-pound coins but he could feel the magic woven into it and assumed it would be more than it appeared. He turned to his goblin guide after pocketing the money pouch "I believe I was to see someone named Ripsnout? Could you please direct me there?" He asked.

The goblin looked at him as if uncertain what to make of the Wizard Marshall but turned and led him further into the bank and round corner after corner until he came to a blank door that looked just like any other in this labyrinth like place. He knocked and a goblin voice said "Enter" Zelretch waited for his guide to step ahead of him but he just put his back against the wall next to the door and stood there, stoic. Seeing that his guide was going no further he entered the room alone.

The room he entered was primarily shelving. Shelves ran along all four walls and was stuffed full of files of some sort. The one only other pieces of furniture in the room was two chairs and a desk between them. On the far side of the desk sat a goblin who was looking at him with that expression that all of them had used when they noticed him.

"How can Gringott's help you today?" The goblin questioned in typical gravelly tones. Zelretch wondered how to go about this and decided direct was probably best.

"Recently a child came into my care from relatives of his that abused him. I wish to adopt him so he can never be remanded to their custody again." Besides, he thought, it's not like anyone could even get where he is in order to get custody of him. The goblin gained a perculiar look as if thinking of something.

"Oh? Describe the boy." Zelretch replied that the boy was short, thin with signs of malnourishment, he had black hair and green eyes, he wore glasses and "he has the strangest scar on his head, like someone had carved a lightning bolt there." He looked at the goblin who had gone stock still. With some effort the goblin got control of himself.

"And did the boy give a name?" the goblin asked. "Yes, it was..."

"Harry Potter" The goblin interrupted.

Zelretch's eyes narrowed, he wasn't used to being wrong footed. "Correct. How did you know?" The goblin gives him an incredulous like and then a more contemplative one.

"Hear this Wizard if you are one, you certainly don't feel like one. I'll be completely open with you and you be completely open with me and I'll do everything I can to resolve this situation. What do you say?"

Zelretch gave the goblin a look but all he could pick up from his facial features was a great mischeviousness as if he's about to one up someone. He grinned, he could understand the sentiment and he had nothing to loose by telling anyway. "Very well, my name is Kischur Zelretch Shweinorg and I am what's known as a dead apostle ancestor..."

xxxxx

It was over an hour later when Zelretch had given him a basic overview of everything, his world, the differences he'd noted thus far with this one, his experiment the other day and its unintended circumstances, how harry had come to his world and then his care (leaving out all mention of the gorgons' natures and simply having it be two women who'd found him) and why he was there today. In return Ripsnout gave an overview of recent history in the wizarding world especially the war with voldemort and how it had ended. He spoke of how Harry Potter had disappeared completely the same night and how the chief warlock, one A lbus Dumbledore, had said he was being kept in a safe place. Many assumed that the old man was raising him himself to be this beacon of the light or that he was being trained by a cohort of aurors to battle and save the people in the future. All the people knew of him was his age and appearance, especially that scar he was famous for.

"It's a pity that Dumbledore sealed his parents' will. As chief warlock only he or the head of the family can demand the will unsealed and that won't be until young Harry turns seventeen as he is last of his line. It would be so good if we could get his vaults back in circulation but once again they're frozen until he reaches seventeen too." Zelretch asked that since the will was sealed how was custody of the child decided now?

"A blood relative could claim all rights to that but withought a magical relative they would go further out the family tree and he would end up with the Malfoys. They where death eaters in the last war so I'm fairly sure you don't want thr boy to go to followers of the one who killed his parents, would you?" No, Zelretch wouldn't. He thought things would be going better than this. He wasn't a blood relative of the boy so couldn't claim gaurdianship of the boy that way and he wasn't going to send him off to live with these Malfoys if they had served this dark lord. He looked back at the goblin to see a large smirk on his face.

"Your face is telling me you've thought of something." Zelretch stated. Ripsnout nodded.

"Only a blood relative can claim gaurdianship. You can't suddenly become his kin but what if he could become yours?" the goblin asked.

"Excuse me?" Zelretch asked so the goblin continued "You come from another world correct? One without a ministry of magic? Thrn the answer is simple. A blood adoption ceremony. The ICW states that all ministries must regulate their own internally, however if not part of a world governed like this one then your free to do as you please." the goblin finished triumphanty.

Zelretch thought the idea a good one theoretically but he had to ask "What effect will this have on Harry?" and so Ripsnout answered.

"His hair and eye colour may change a little and his bone structure may become like his blood adopted parents in some ways but a more major change is he will be eligible to inhereit line magics, those magics that his family possess, for example the Blacks are known for occasionally producing someone capable of being a metamorphmagus and the Trelawney's have been known to produce seers".

"One last question, what would the effects if a human was blood adopted by a non-human?" Zelretch needed to know if this was going to mess things up.

"Unknown as it has never happened, however given that beings such half-veela exist and I believe that Hogwart's groundskeeper is hslf-giant and heck I have a grandson teaching at hogwarts with human blood in him. With this I don't see a problem. Just seven drops of blood in the potion from each person who wishes to blood-bond with the child and stand inside the circles at the edges of the ritual circle, which I'll draw out for you on paper, when the child drinks the potion the ritual will connect with them and him and he will pass out while the changes take effect. There is a maximum of four that can blood-bond as a parent. If you'll wait for ten minutes I can get the goblin outside the door to fetch a potion preprepared for you and I will copy out the required ritual circle." Zelretch thought anout it and nodded his agreement. It seemed to be the only way and he had decided to be responsible for a change. If being responsible meant being a father then a father he would be.

Ripsnout went to the door and said something to the goblin in a harsh gutteral language to which the goblin replied and headed off. Ripsnout headed back in and disappeared amongst the shelves only to return a few minutes later with a piece of parchment with, what looked to Zelretch, to be a moderately difficult formalcraft circle drawn on it. It shouldn't be difficult to replicate. Ripsnout just said "Make it big enough for everyone and don't wear anything artificial as that can intefere with things. I recomend cotton, if it wasn't alive at some point don't wear it." The goblin runner returned with a vial in his hands that contained a black liquid. Ripsnout again said "seven drops of blood from each, maximum of four. Oh yeah, this world will expect him to go to Hogwarts schoolwhen he's eleven so make sure you're somewhere you can recieve owls around his eleventh birthday. Come back before he leaves and we'll file the adoption paperwork then."

Zelretch nodded his head in thanks and sent the vial and image of the circle to his desk back in the clock tower via the kaleidoscope as he followed his gaurd back to Gringott's entrance. He left feeling that at least that was accomplished. He looked around for somewhere to go next.

xxxxx

Upon entering a shop named Flourish and Blotts he immediately realised some magic must have been used. Even without having to feel it he could tell simply from the fact that the shop was at least twice as large as the space it resided in. He shook his head, what would magic do next. He started perusing the shelves and took any book that seemed remotely useful. Right now he had the standard book of spells complete series (from one to seven), 1001 magical herbs and fungi, curses for the cursed, charms to charm the kitchen, Transfiguration basics: understanding the basics and starting out simple as well as a multitude of potions books and one alchemy for beginners he'd found squirreled away and seemingly forgotten. Before he left he also selected several rune primers wondering how it would interact with the runes he was familiar with as well as one on arithmancy and one on wards which seemed similar in concept to the bounded fields he knew. The shopkeeper looked wide-eyed at the number of purchases this man was making and quickly tallied the price up to bo seventy two galleons and six sickles. He paid and got his change before leaving where he looked around before using the kaleidoscope to send them to his study for later. He then paid the apothecary a visit asking for a complete potions kit for his two sons one was to be a first year and the other a fifth year idiot who'd somehow managed to destroy it. Well that is what he said so he'd have ingredients for some of the more complex potions in the books he'd bought and perhaps it wouldn't hurt Harry to learn at least some of the magic from his homeworld. Right now he had his eye on potions, runes and arithmancy as none of them needed a wand that he couldn't get until he turned eleven.

He spotted one shop that had him curious. A wizarding travel shop by the look of it. He decided to go ahead and have a look around. When he entered he was greeted by the store clerk, a young man with windswept hair and clear blue eyes as well as a small smile playing about his face. "Good day to you sir. How can I help you?" Zelretch thought about travel and wondered if there were any translation spells so the two gorgons good be understood more easily.

"I have a friend and I've met two people he knows. Unfortunately we don't have a common language and I'm having difficulty conversing with them. Is there anything you can suggest?" not really expecting immediate results he was amused when the young man developed a full grown grin.

"Actually, yeah I do. Most people use translation charms but that tends to absoplutely butcher peoples grammar making them nigh incomprehensible. The best way to magically learn a language is with one of these language lozenges. They're made using a pensieve memory that's been specially prepared by someone who already knows the language and is mixed in a potion that releases it into the brain of the one taking it. The amazing thing about these is that once learnt it can't be forgotten. The only thing to watch out for is to take only one every seven days otherwise the memories may get messed up. They're a little pricey at two galleons each but there ain't no better way to magically learn a language." Zelretch was impressed.

"And how many different languages do you have here?" he asked to which the clerk replied.

"We have a total of thirty seperate languages that includes english, french, spanish and other european languages through to ones like japanese and russian and then the dead languages like latin and egyptian." Zelretch considered it. A full set of thirty was sixty galleons. For that price you could learn thirty languages in thirty weeks. That would certainly help Harry and the Gorgons when they decided to travel.

"I'll take three complete sets of thirty if you don't mind." the clerks eyebrows rose. That was one hundred and eighty galleons.

"Very well then sir. Is there anything else I can help you with?" Zelretch supposed now was as good a time as any to ask

"Just a question. Have you ever heard of a language that lets you taslk to snakes?" The clerks eyes widened.

"Parseltongue? Yeah I know about it. Most folk don't like it. They think it's a sign of going dark but really it's just a magical language with a lot of stigma against it especially seeing as you-know-who was one. What sets it apart from other magical languages like mermish and gobblydegook is that it can't be taught it's something you can either do it or not and no magical language can be made into a lozenge. The magic inherent in the language messes with the potion making it unstabe." Zelretch bids him goodbye and heads back out into the street.

He was about to leave when he spotted an ice cream parlour. Well if he's going to be playing the role of a father he may as well get into the mindset early. He stepped up to look at the ice creams available and as he didn't know when they'll be back from the shopping trip he decided to get five nevermelt delights to go. One for him, one each for the gorgon girls, one for Harry himself of course and one for that Waver he had guiding them, he wasn't much past being a kid either come to think of it. Once again he used the kaleidoscope to send the ice cream to the coffee table in his visitors room before disapearing there himself.

The others weren't back yet so Zelretch decided to acqaint himself with one of his new purchases. He settled himself down into his usual armchair and started on a book on basic magical theory. He would only have an hour and a half before they got back but by then he was so immersed in his book that he didn't notice them come in until Euryale and Harry got there legs tangled together and collapsed on the floor just in his door. Which was somewhat amusing to him as they laughed aloud as they untangled themselves.

xxxxx

Waver Velvet had had quite an interesting day. He'd been unable to sleep and had taken to wandering the clock towers in the early hours of the morning and had quite literaly walked into the Wizard Marshall himself. From there he'd had a somewhat odd request to meet him later in the room next to his. Arriving he hadn't quite expected what he found. He had then played tour giude to these three which wasn't so bad. The boy was polite and intelligent. Waver had actually been muttering about a problem he'd been having with a bounded field he'd designede for his workshop that just didn't seem to want to bond to it. The boy had asked if making special anchor points on the structure rather than trying to get the field to attach itself to the definition of a structure would help. Waver looked at him and ran it through his head thinking it just might work. He'd asked a few more questions of Harry and definitely given himsome unique ideas and he would mull them all over later. The two women weren't so bad when he got used to the hissing they used to speak with Harry. One of them seemed to be a fair bit more wary than the other, this is the one with purple bangles on her right arm, Stheno, whereas the other seemed more carefree, Euryale, but Waver still saw the alert look in her eyes as she glanced around constantly checking her surroundings, it kinda remindid him of a snake watching out for prey ready to snatch up. He was just glad thatbthe actual snake didn't accompany them. He had Harry explain to it (and it actually understood) that snakes generally didn't wander the streets especially one's her size. She reluctantly agreed.

They'd had fun shopping too. The three of them had looked like they'd neverbeen in an apartment store before, well, the two sisters kept staring at things like cars and streetlights as if they where brand new. The girls had seemed to favour long dresses in various colours and once Euryale had tried on a black gothic lolita one on which had Waver looking anywhere but at her. Even Stheno let loose a little here and tried on a bright yellow sundress and hat with sandals. Harry seemed to stick to the colour scheme that was black, silver and purple. What had frozen Waver's blood was when harry removed his clothes to try new ones and he had caught sight of his numerous injuries. Waver had to walk away from that. When he pointed it out to the sisters they started alternating between muttering a language he couldn't understand and hissing. What he did get was that this would not be happening again. He could clearly hear the anger in their voices and decided if Harry was to become Zelretch's aprentice and as such a permanent fixture at the clock tower then he would definitely keep an eye on him.

It was when they got back that more fun was to be had. They went and dropped their purchases off in their room. Leaving with Stheno in her yellow sundress and hat while Euryale had decided to go for a frilled dress that was almost a ball gown that was a velvety black. Harry had chosen to wear a normal pair of black jeans and a t-shirt that had a zombie decal on it in a shimmering silver-grey colour. When they'd left to see if Zelretch was back Harry and Euryale where at the door when opened it and Alysa sped out between them resulting in Euryale and Harry in a tangle of limbs.

A deep chuckle alerted them to the presence of the Wizard Marshall who was stood inthe doorway of his study looking down at the tangle of limbs. "Come I have a little treat for us all" he said as he lead them over to the coffee table where five ice cream sundaes sat wating for them, spoon at the ready. They sat together and as Harry got some on his nose which was promptly licked off by Alysa.

Waver found himself actually enjoying all this and was quite surprised. Here they where in the clock tower supposedly a hive of back stabbing and treachery and a new lord was sat with the Wizard Marshall, a five year old and two beatufiul young women and a snake all enjoying ice cream together.

Zelretch looked at the smile on Waver's face and decided to ask the others what they thought of the five of them being something akin to a family, he asked in greek of course so as not to clue Waver in just yet. The gorgons said they already considered Harry to be a part of their family and neither Zelretch nor Waver seemed a disagreeable sort. Harry was extatic when the gorgons told him what was being discussed and completelty agreed. Zelretch then turned to Waver and spoke in english this time. "Lord El-Mellio this may sound a bit odd but do you have a family?" Waver paused at this. Yes he was part if the Archibalds because if his title of El-Mellio but he didn't have a proper family anymore since he was orphaned.

"Wizard Marshall, I am part of the Archibald family through title. The people in this room have become closer to me since my own parent' deaths."

"Good answer which and it answers something of mine. You see Harry is not of this world..." He then with Harry's assistance told everything thus far andvthen included what happened at Diagon Alley especially in Gringotts.

Waver was taking all this in better than most and was trying to cover the relavent points.

"So the long and short of it is Your experiment had unforseen circumstances, Harry here was magicked away from abusive relatives straight to two of the gorgon sisters which are these two right here. You then decided that if he accepted Harry would be your aprentice and you then found him with said gorgons who came along to see the world. You then go to his world which uses completely different magic than we do and find that Harry here is about as far from ordinary as possible and the options now are this blood adoption, sending him back to his abusive relatives or to people thatmay have helped kill his parents?"

Zelretch realised how convulted that sounded and wondered if another Zelretch was trying to prank him. "That sounds correct yes."

Waver looked at Harry "I was going to keep an eye on you anyway but now if you'll let me I'll have the honour of you calling me uncle Waver" Zelretch laughed and said "If he's claimed uncle then I claim Grandpa Zel, at least I have a little experience there with Arc" Stheno and Euryale looked at each other then at Harry "_If you'll have us we have no issue with being sisters. I don't think either of us could fit in the mother category. So, will you have us?_"

Harry looked around at everyone and then Alysa launched herself at Stheno and Euryale yelling "_GROUP HUG!_" The two sisters stumbled forward towards Harry who'd tried to get out of the way and had crashed into Waver and all four ended in a tangle of limbs. Looking up at Zelretch there was only one thing to say.

"Grandpa Zel, I think I like the idea of our family already."


	4. Rituals and Welcome Home

Okay. I don't really know where I was going with this one it just kinda happened.

I've been wondering what kind of magecraft to give Harry and I've compiled a list of what I'd like him to learn and put it in my forum which can be found on my profile or here : forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

Also on my profile is a poll of who you would like Harry to meet before he goes to Hogwarts. If I have missed someone from the list then I either have plans for them already or I just plain forgot about them so if I could have your opinion on that then brilliant. Because of this I'm going to delay when I start the next chapter rather than starting as soon as the previous chapter is posted as I have been doing. Reviews are also much appreciated.

So for now please enjoy the chapter

Chapter 4 – Rituals and Welcome Home

They had decided to wait until everyone could understand each other before attempting the blood adoption ritual so Stheno and Euryale took the english language lozenges. Harry took this opportunity to take his greek one so he could talk to them in a language they where familiar with without resorting to parseltongue. Harry was a little irritated at what Zelretch, or Grampa Zel as he asked to be called, had found on the language. He thought it pretty cool that he could speak a language that couldn't be taught. He thought that the stigma attached to it was illogical, after all it was a language, nothing more and nothing less. It is true that hissing at people in public tended to attract attention so it would be best if they kept parseltongue for things that should be kept private.

Waver was an interesting person from Harry's point of view. Harry visited his rooms and came face to face with what Waver called his 'maid golem' although apparently its real name was Volumen Hydragyrum. Apparently it was 'buggy' and kept going on a rampage claiming to be a killer robot from the future. Waver decided now was as good a time as any to begin teaching Harry magecraft. He had him reading up on basic alchemy and it was honestly interesting. Zelretch mentioned that he had a book on alchemy from Harry's home world and he was looking forward to comparing them. So far it seemed the concept was the same, manipulating physical matter. The differences were such that Harry's world used transmutation circles to alter the base material to another form whereas alchemy here seemed to be more in line with chemistry than mysticism. Harry was however very interested in two particular skills of alchemists in this world. They where Memory Partition and Thought Acceleration. If he could learn them, he thought, then he could learn other things more quickly and more easily. He decided that those two skills would be the first ones he would work towards.

Harry's time he spent with Zelretch was different yet again. Whereas with the gorgon sisters he and them sat and talked a lot in their rooms, pretty much the only place they could get enough privacy to speak parseltongue, and he spent time with Waver studying, his time with Zelretch varied each and every time. Once Zelretch had explained what the kaleidoscope was capable of Harry was seized by the desire to visit other worlds. Zelretch chuckled at this and told him he needed at least five years of magecraft under his belt before that would happen, The time spent with Zelretch was definitely interesting. Harry asked about the history that he must have seen and the people he had met and Zelretch found himself surprisingly happy to comply, 'Have I forgotten the simple pleasures of good company in my advanced years?' he wondered. Another time Zelretch decided to show him examples of basic magecraft. He had set up a little demonstration of various disciplines such as using runes for fire and light, curses (at which he mentioned a favourite of the Edelfelt and Tohsaka seemed to be called a gandr shot), Elemental magecraft where Harry decided to ask about the petrification aspect of earth magecraft as he wished to know more about Stheno and Euryale's lost sister. It was this and the mention of mystic eyes that had Harry asking if mystic eyes could be made. Zelretch replied that they could but only binding, charm and whisper where known to have been successfully created. Harry decided this too was a project he might research to be closer to the family he can't know as she has passed long ago. It was then that Zelretch decided he needed to schedule the boy so he doesn't burn out.

"Whoa Harry. Don't overload yourself. After the ritual this Saturday we're going to get you enrolled in a local primary school. Let's say you can study one topic a day during the week after school and leave the weekends free. So, what five areas of magecraft do you wish to learn?" Zelretch exclaimed one time when Harry was going on about how much he wanted to learn. This served to calm him down somewhat and he became embarrassed for sounding over eager. Nevertheless it was soon decided what he would do after school each day. Mondays he would work on thought acceleration and memory partition as they started from the same base of meditation. Tuesdays he would study runes from some of the rune primers that Zelretch had obtained. Wednesdays he wanted to learn about formalcraft as that was the sort of thing that allowed him to have an actual family. Thursdays he decided he wanted to learn more exotic magecraft and decided to start with Japanese witchcraft which handily included potions, one of the subjects he would be required to take when he attended Hogwarts. Fridays where set aside for his own projects. He decided that he would initially research mystic eyes and when he had an understanding of other branches of magecraft he would look up bounded fields and possibly wards from his home world.

xxxxx

This is how Harry's first week at the clock tower had been. He hadn't actually met any of the other magi yet as Zelretch had a rather isolated series of rooms and despite being a popular lecturer Waver was kind of anti-social generally. He was enjoying himself and it was now Friday evening. Tomorrow they would perform this ritual. Zelretch and Waver had already gone over it in as much detail as they could despite it being from another world. They had carefully chalked the circle up in Zelretch's workshop seeing as they needed a lot of floor space for the circle and they had checked the circle against the image they had repeatedly. Harry was having a little trouble getting to sleep. He would finally have a family. Sure it was a blood _adoption_ ritual but they did not fill parental roles but rather a scholarly uncle, an eccentric grandfather, a playful sister could be found in Euryale and Stheno was the more strict one that always taught you to mind your manners. After he awoke from the ritual tomorrow they would do another to determine his element and origin along with whatever magic circuits he would have gained from the ritual. With all this running through his head Harry didn't even notice when he finally fell asleep, he only remembered being shook awake by Stheno telling him it was time.

xxxxx

Harry took a deep breath as he sat cross-legged in the middle of the circle. All five of them where wearing a plain cotton robe and bare feet. It looked completely natural on Stheno and Euryale and even Zelretch managed to not look to ridiculous but Waver really did not suit it. The potion with the blood added was sat in front of him while everyone stood in the circles at the outer edge of the ritual designs. In front of him to the left was Euryale and to the right was Stheno, both were giving him encouraging looks. Waver and Zelretch were behind him, Zelretch to his left and Waver to the right.

"Remember" Zelretch spoke "Once this ritual starts we are to not move no matter what. He will collapse as his heart will stop for a few seconds and he will technically be dead but when his heart beats again then the changes will take effect. We don't know how he will be affected physically as the changes do have an emotional and psychological base to them."

Everyone assented to this and Zelretch addressed Harry "Whenever you're ready then Harry."

Harry glanced round himself one last time. He took in Stheno and Euryale who despite being alone for so long had looked after him after a brief bout of entirely reasonable suspicion. He saw Zelretch who had set all of this in motion and when he had realised Harry was in his world had come to him almost immediately to see he was alive and well and had proceeded to make him an offer very few would ever get. He saw Waver, the reluctant guide who had become more at ease over that day and was even now teaching him magecraft and always had an answer to whatever question that he had. Yes, these people around him were his family. Most would say 'in spite of their being no blood relations', well, that was about to change.

He took a deep breath and then downed the potion in one go. It tasted metallic like he had licked a lamppost or something and it was rather thick as it slipped down his throat, like oil. He swallowed and he could feel the potion as it went down him. He waited what seemed like forever but was more like two minutes before his chest suddenly felt very hot and very tight. He reached at his chest as his heart started thumping harder and harder, almost painfully so. It felt like something was fighting him, like something really didn't want this to happen. Harry mentally reached out at whatever it was and pushed at it. His heart was painful now but he pushed harder at whatever was holding him until he felt it weaken slightly. That was all the potion needed and Harry instantly slumped as his heart stopped.

No one knew what had happened here but it was obvious something hadn't gone as intended. It was nerve racking watching Harry clutch at his chest and twitch in obvious discomfort and pain but no one wanted to risk him and remained in their circles. It was mixed relief and worry when Harry slumped forward as his heart stopped. The worry was compounded when that lightning bolt scar on his forehead burst open and spat black ichor all over the floor. The unearthly scream didn't settle them much either.

A beat.

A second beat.

A third beat of his heart and Harry woke up and his body felt like it was made of liquid. It felt like it was constantly in flux, constantly in motion, constantly changing. It was most disorientating. He could feel the changes happening even if he didn't know exactly what those changes are. He can feel it in his skin, in his eyes and hair, he can feel his bones shifting like they'd been turned to jelly in order to be re-moulded, he could feel his muscles shift and change. He could feel something he couldn't describe begin to change, it was like something that was a part of him and yet at the same time it wasn't.

This went on for several minutes, modifying Harry as it saw fit until Harry felt the power in him slowly seep away. He waited a little while longer but everything seemed to be finished. He let out a long breath he didn't realise he'd been holding and stood up. He definitely felt different and much better than he ever had before. He looked down his collar but unfortunately the scars that he'd received growing up were still there. The ritual hadn't healed them unfortunately.

Waver let out a long low whistle "Well look at you now. I think it's sake to say that you could now pass as being related to those two at least," he indicated the sisters.

"Why?" Harry asks "How have I changed?" His voice! His voice seems a lot softer and musical now, like it has echoes of Euryale's laughter in it. He look to Euryale but her eyes are glued to my forehead, he turned to Stheno to ask what happened but her eyes are also fixed firmly on his forehead. Harry sighed and stepped out of the circle heading to the mirror that was set up in the corner.

He stared. He had definitely changed a lot. His skin has paled even more than what it was and he's now almost ghost white, that was unexpected. His arms and legs rather than being weedy little sticks are now still thin but most definitely firm, the same could be said of the rest of his body. He looked slim, as if he was supposed to rather than it being because of starvation. His hair which always seemed to be an uncontrollable rat's nest on my head now reached the floor and was incredibly straight and most interestingly was streaked through with the same purple as Stheno and Euryale had in their hair. His eyes had also changed drastically. The whites of his eyes are no longer white but a very, very pale lilac and my iris has taken on Zelretch's red colour interspersed with flecks of lavender and the original green. Harry smiled slightly and that makes another change evident. A human mouth should not normally have such long canines. He wondered if he'd picked up the trait from the vampiric Zelretch or the gorgon sisters seeing as they also had longer than usual canines. But it was quite obvious what had gotten the girls' attention. When one looked at his forehead now they would see no scar as that had disappeared completely. However, in its place, was a large run in deep purple. It looked like a stylised 2 with a flick in the end like the cross-over on an x. He didn't know what this meant but it obviously meant something to those two. He'd ask later, after they managed to recover from their shock. He turned back to the room "Well guys. Say hello to the new me."

xxxxx

They decided that now that they'd gotten one ritual out of the way then they might as well do the second and determine his magic circuits, their quality as well as his element and origin. This was a lot simpler and only required one other person to do it. The girls had gone back to their room in near silence, they really seemed out of it after seeing that symbol on his forehead. Waver had to give a lecture but said he'd be back to find out the results as soon as he could. That left Harry and Zelretch. He decided this was as good a time as any to give Harry a crash course in ritual circles in formalcraft compared to the one we used from his home world. It was interesting. Both seemed to strive to be as accurate as possible but there where differences. The circles of his original magic required exacting accuracy for dimensions in relation to everything else in the ritual whereas a magecraft circle relied more on belief and interpretation of the one using it. The circles of his home world tended to be drawn in chalk or paint whereas in formalcraft you mixed lead in to it as well as your own blood. Here he found another change. My blood was no longer the same, its colour had lightened. It was no vivid purple but it definitely had a tinge of that colour and it was certainly noticeable. Nevertheless Zelretch and he continued drawing out the circle in quit conversation consisting mostly of my questions.

It was done. Harry sat down in the centre of the circle and waited. He did not have to wait long. He felt Zelretch's prana reaching out to him. It felt old, very old and it seemed to swirl around Harry playfully. It felt like one that was many, the only way to describe it was like a diamond reflecting the light of several polished surfaces and this twinkling was what it was, A multitude of different flashes of light but with one origin. There was also the faint tang of blood to it, Harry could feel it on his tongue and smell it though it was definitely faint. He pushed back at it, willing his prana to go out and meet it so that Zelretch could analyse what his prana had an affinity to. He imagined a drop of blood falling into an already full goblet, this was his trigger image. With that Harry felt his prana leave him but he couldn't stop it. It was invigorating and draining at the same time, he felt hyperactive but couldn't seem to move a muscle. It was intoxicating. And just like that, it was cut off. Harry opened his eyes not realising he had closed them. He saw Zelretch with a hand on the wall looking as if a hurricane had tried to take him for a ride. Nothing else in the room had moved an inch though so the wind was unlikely to have been physical. He looked at Harry "Well, that is most interesting."

xxxxx

It was later when the five of them where in Zelretch's visitor room that we found out what was so interesting about my results.

Zelretch started with telling us a little of what he'd read "From what I can ascertain, the wizards of Harry's world have something which is equivalent to what nature spirits in our world have, a magical core. Rather than convert od into prana by means of magic circuits these magical cores absorb mana from the area around the wizard and store it into this magical reserve. The body also converts od as well and stores prana here too. Whereas we actively convert od into prana whenever we cast spells, Harry here has a reserve from which he can readily cast. It is somewhat similar to the Tohsaka jewel magecraft but instead of storing his prana in a jewel he has an extra metaphysical organ in which it's kept. Whenever he casts magic this magical bladder empties and then is filled once again. The more he uses it, the more exercise it gets and the greater its capacity. The wizards however have something called magical maturity. When they reach the age of seventeen the magical core gets a bit of a boost but then stops increasing in size no matter how much exercise it gets. With me so far?"

Harry thought of something "Is there a limit to how much it can expand before it won't get any bigger before reaching magical maturity?" This all sounded to be a little impossible and simple. If what Zelretch said was everything them they had a near infinite potential.

"Good question and yes there is. There is something known as magical potential and if you don't reach that by the time of your maturity then you never will. Think of it as a cut off point if you will. A point of no return as it were." Zelretch smiled as he saw Harry thinking about what this could mean but it was Waver who asked the next question.

"How will this affect his potential for magecraft though and don't you need circuits for modern magecraft. I wouldn't know how to teach a nature spirit so how can we teach Harry?" A good question and one with a most interesting answer.

" Before the blood adoption it would mean that Harry was completely incapable of our magecraft but after the blood adoption it caused a most interesting phenomenon. In Harry's world wizards only have a speciality because of preference, dedication, skill or their focus leans in that direction. I enquired about these wands that they all use and found that wands tend to match with people's temperament and personality or sometimes where they live. Japanese people for example almost all use cherry wands whereas oak and willow is common for England. There are also wands that a part of them has some significance to the user. For example a veela's wand will most likely have a hair from a family member they are close to. It would not surprise me if Harry would need a hair from one of you two for his wand." He said indicating Stheno and Euryale "But we've gotten off topic. How does this core affect his magecraft potential? It is quite beneficial. Seeing as their magic has no predisposition for certain crafts Harry here will be at least capable of learning any magecraft he encounters but will need to work at it to learn anything from it. Just because he is capable of it does not mean he will pick it up instantly. There is however a few areas of magecraft he will find easier and while he has all 5 standard elements, he does have a non-standard element and origin that exceeds them. His element is Spirit and his Origin is Being. That is a s accurate as I can be. He will excel at things that include living and sentient beings. For example he could support a heroic spirit outside of a grail war relatively cheaply compared to anyone else. His magic will also display a degree of its own intelligence too. If he where to create a familiar it would be capable of following its natural instincts without a problem and might be able to follow specified tasks under its own initiative."

This was all really awesome for Harry and he couldn't help but ask "I do have magic circuits don't I? And of the five natural elements which is the strongest?" Zelretch gave Harry a considering look and then his eyes alighted on the symbol on his forehead. Zelretch's eyes lit up as if he'd worked something out.

"You wanted to be closer to all your family didn't you? Even Medusa who is not with us?" he asked and Harry looked startled. He didn't think anyone would realise that.

"How did you know?" but it was Stheno who replied.

"That symbol on your forehead. Our sister Medusa also bore it. It has had us loosing ourselves in memories since we saw it." The two of them seemed somewhat subdued but that was logical Harry thought, they where remembering a lost family member.

"That might explain a few things then," Zelretch said "Of the five natural elements you have the greatest affinity for earth of which petrification magic is a part of. Your mystic eyes project may actually prove to be possible after all as when you gained your magic circuits in this ritual you do have one aligned with each of your eyes as if they're preparing for just such an occurrence. Be thankful that the ritual healed your eyesight so you no longer need glasses. There is one more oddity as far as magecraft alignment goes, you have a minor connection to gravity based magecraft but I can't work out how that would manifest. As far as magic circuits go it seems you've taken after me in that regard. Dead apostles are known for their large magecraft potential. You have forty three magic circuits of such quality as to make the blue blooded nobles envious. I've been thinking of turning some of my circuits into a crest and giving that to you. It would help you when I decide too start teaching you the kaleidoscope but your body would have to get acclimatised to it first which could take several years so I suppose we'd best get that done with soon."

xxxxx

Zelretch looked at Harry. The boy had so much potential and yet he was already leaning in one direction. The way in which he had so quickly bonded with the two gorgons was phenomenal. He had also bonded with Harry, it was Waver who had the weakest connection to him right now. The route that Harry had chosen seemed to deviate more and more from what was considered human. 'Is he distorted?' He asked himself thinking on the word the Tohsaka girl used to describe the magus killer's son. If he where then how would he develop? He seemed intent on maintaining a connection with his new family to the point that he had even managed to become something like the sister they had lost. Zelretch knew that as a dead apostle ancestor himself that he wasn't exactly a role model of what it is to be human. The only human in his new family was Waver and he was somewhat anti-social. Could Harry bridge the gap that lay between human and not? He chuckled internally wondering what his honorary grand-daughters Arcueid and Altrouge would make of him. He'd probably get along fine with Arc as long as she wasn't being so monotonous in her hunt for Roa. It was Altrouge that was the real question mark. Would she see him as the human he was born or the hybrid he now was? Or better yet would she seem as an individual rather than a species. He might have to introduce them and see what happened. Yes, regardless of how Harry developed he would be better of with friends and acquaintances than without.

xxxxx

Harry was excited but tried to remain as cool and calm as possible. Zelretch and he were going to the clock tower cafeteria together and someone was sure to get curious enough to ask about him at which point Zelretch would unveil that he had taken him on as an apprentice. He was already chuckling internally as he tried to think of how they would react. Waver said that the clock tower was full of 'stuffy pretentious arseholes with their noses either in the air or in a book'. The exception was supposed to be the enforcers who actually used their magecraft for a practical application. He supposed he'd probably get on better with the enforcers. Harry and Zelretch took a seat at the far wall after purchasing their food. Zelretch had ordered a tomato soup and warm bread whereas he had opted for grilled bacon and cheese toasties. Everyone was eyeing Zelretch warily but none had yet approached or asked a question. As he started eating his toasties Harry glanced around and looked at how everyone was dressed. The women wore elaborate dresses that seemed rather impractical and the men wore the high fashions of the Victorian era. The place went silent as someone sat across from me. Harry looked up and met eyes with Waver who gave him a subtle wink and he had to fight hard not to erupt into laughter. Here we had the Wizard Marshall himself, an unknown boy with strange hair and eye colours and one of the most anti-social members of the clock tower all sat together and no one knew what to think about it.

A shadow was cast across them. Harry looks up and see possibly the most practically dressed woman yet. A white shirt and red trousers with tailcoats that reach behind her knees and a pair of leather boots. What stands out is the metal glove in her right hand and the riding crop in the other. She has an elegant red bow at her neck. Her hair is tied back in a simple ponytail and her face bears an expression that makes him not want to cross her. She looks at each of us in turn before speaking "Wizard Marshall, Lord El-Mellio, may one of you have an explanation why one so young accompanies you within the clock tower?" she asks formally. Zelretch and Waver make eye contact before the former turns to this woman.

"Why certainly vice-director. I have decided to take him on as an apprentice. The older ones I accept always seem to go a little mad for some reason. Perhaps a younger individual could adjust more easily. Let me introduce the two of you. Lady Bartomeloi, this is my apprentice Harry Potter. Harry, this is Lorelei Bartomeloi, she is the vice-director of the clock tower and barring extreme circumstances the one with the highest official title you will encounter here." Harry thought making a good impression on someone in authority would be best and as such stood up from his chair and gave a small bow towards her.

"Pleased to meet you Lady Barthomeloi," She raised an eyebrow at him and then inclined her head to him. This seemed to surprise people as they began whispering amongst themselves. Was it so hard to fathom that two people could be polite to each other. Lorelei's lip quirked as she seemed to have thought of something.

"Tell me Mr Potter what is your honest opinion of me?" He blinked. He felt like he was being set up for something but Harry replied honestly anyway as she asked.

"My opinion? I would say you're one of the most practically dressed people here, you don't seem very open and even somewhat intimidating. Simply put you're someone I wouldn't want to cross." The whole cafeteria seemed to hold its breath as one.

"Really? Well then Harry, allow me to be one of the first to welcome you to the clock tower and may you time here be fruitful and productive." With that she inclined her head to him again and he responded in kind before she turned on her heel and walked away. The room burst into conversation about what happened but Harry was somewhat confused by it so he turned to Waver for an answer. He found that Waver's eye had developed a twitch and his fork was half way to his mouth. When their eyes met Waver sighed and muttered "You never do anything small scale do you?" Harry didn't know what he meant and asked him but he said he'd tell him later when in our rooms.

xxxxx

We where back in Zelretch's visitor's area. Stheno and Euryale weren't back yet from that restaurant they'd decided to try. They'd been eating a lot of foreign foods since they could now speak english and tonight they had decided on a traditional Thai restaurant. Harry was just learning how to cook because he was forced to at the Dursley's but now he kinda actually wanted to, all the different foods seemed really interesting and diverse compared to Dudley's constant desire for chips. Harry decided then that he would be at least self-sufficient when it came to cooking and cleaning. He looked up at Waver and once again asked what was so special about what happened in the cafeteria. He looked Harry over with a critical eye before answering.

"Harry, that was the vice-director of the clock tower, the director has held his position for two millennia and evidence suggests he's more than just human like the Wizard Marshall. He however has not been seen around the clock tower at all, that is unless he is masquerading as a lesser noble or some such. The vice-director is referred to as the queen of the clock tower, she essentially runs it. Garnering her displeasure makes some magi tuck their tail between their legs and run for the hills. She acknowledged you. This has nothing to do with being connected with Zelretch, he's been known to do odd things and she is more likely to get displeased or irritated by his antics and he is one of the few who can do that and escape unscathed. That she would acknowledge you as a five year old will have already started rumours circulating and people will look to you to gain advantage of you if they can and sabotage you if they can't. Magi in general or back-stabbing traitors to a man. While she can play politics with the best of them she tends to be far more straight-forward than that," Harry didn't get it. As far as he was aware he had been polite to someone and she had answered in kind. Being polite to people was automatic for him. If he wasn't polite it would bring more attention to him and he never got attention that wasn't negative. If he was polite people ignored him as their attention was drawn to the trouble makers. It seemed though he would no longer be able to hide in shadows any longer as he seemed to be getting himself into crazier and crazier situations. If he stopped and thought about everything had happened since he disappeared from the Dursley's home it would sound ridiculous as a list yet here he was, adopted by a vampire, two gorgons and a young adult and learning magic in an alternate dimension where certain laws of reality are different and he had drawn the attention of prominent figures of authority. Harry had only one thing to say to all this "My life is weird!"

xxxxx

Harry noticed that now that he was a recognised member of the clock tower people's eyes seemed to follow him wherever he went. Stheno and Euryale often accompanied him as he tried to make sense of the place. Most of the clock tower was underground and contained everything a self-contained community would need excluding the food that was purchased. It was quite possible to live an entire lifetime underground and rumour was that some researchers actually had, born between two magi when they had a common goal and raised to continue their research until his dying day. It was a somewhat odd story whether it was true or not. No one commented on Stheno or Euryale's presence, some of them glanced at the purple in his hair but did not ask about it. It seemed gaining the attention of the queen of the clock tower herself had placed a barrier around Harry that few would dare to step through.

xxxxx

On these jaunts through the clock tower Harry had encountered each of the departments within the clock tower and was fascinated by some of them.

The department of mineralogy didn't hold much of interest to Harry. He didn't need to use different gemstones for different effects considering the universal nature of his magic. The only other benefit he saw of this branch of magecraft was the ability to store prana within said gems for later use which he also was not interested in. He did enjoy talking to some of the magi within as a number of them where proficient in several mundane subjects such as geology and geography which had exposed them to a world outside the clock tower and, in Harry's opinion, made them seem a whole lot more sensible than some departments that had no mundane equivalent.

One such department that had no mundane equivalent was the department of invocation. There seemed to be no way to equate this department to mundane life as there was nothing outside of magic that has properties that allow someone to possess another or work through a spiritual medium. The closest equivalent was how some mundanes viewed religion but, in this world at least, there was actually a use for religion. Apparently the belief of so many people could be utilised by the church's version of enforcers, their executors, to empower them beyond normal means. As the church viewed magecraft as heretical I wondered how their system differed and how they defined the limits of magecraft such that they don't interact with their methods. The only sub-department that had anything like a mundane connection was spiritual surgery and even then it differed so much from mundane surgery that the two could not really be compared to each other.

The department of spiritual evocation was an interesting one despite how he didn't like any of the members he had so far encountered. It had to do with the summoning of spiritual beings. Apparently the dead apostle ancestor known as Merem Solomon or the Crown utilised the magecraft that was researched here. The magi within seemed almost rabid in their attempts to recreate something of such power and while the subject interested him there was no way Harry would spend much time here due to the people within.

One other department he visited, and visited repeatedly was the department of universal research. This department essentially studied worldwide and historical accounts. It reminded him somewhat of a cross between a newspaper and a museum. He decided that when he studied history in his mundane school he would come here to check out how the Magi had recorded it and, if it was greek history, he would ask Stheno and Euryale if they remembered anything. He also intended to ask Zelretch how he recalled events and how they matched up with both the clock tower's records and what the mundanes thought had happened.

xxxxx

As it so happens the coming Monday he would be going to primary school again. Zelretch had him enrolled and had the paperwork drawn up in the non-magical world that registered Zelretch as being his paternal grandfather and Euryale being his mother with Stheno being his aunt. Waver was to play the role of family friend and honorary uncle. With The colour of his eyes and hair it was believable that he was related to both the gorgons and Zelretch if you ignored the impossibility of purple and red as hair and eye colours.

He had been enrolled at Charles Dickens Primary School and decided to take the underground train there which would take about twenty minutes. As this was his first day he had to go and see the principal and introduce himself. Stheno and Euryale where going to come with him and Waver had no lectures that day decided to accompany them as the honorary uncle. They said goodbye to Zelretch before they left. Zelretch was busy reading through all of the books he had gotten from Harry's world and cross-referencing them with tomes on magecraft looking for where they where similar enough to be identical and where both theory and application differed greatly. Runes and alchemy where an example of each. The basic runes used by each world where the same but Harry's world used other runic languages that this world didn't and was more along the lines of translating than making use of. Alchemy on the other hand seemed so different that the only similarity between them was the concept of changing one material to another.

They headed out into the early morning and headed south towards the nearest station. They passed a library and Harry just had to ask "Uncle Waver, do you think I could get a mundane library card? The clock tower only has books on magecraft or subjects related to their area of study."

Waver looked down at Harry and replied "Sure thing. Let's get today out of the way with first and get a week of school under your belt. Take Euryale with you as you need a legal guardian with you to register and go this weekend. After that the three of you can enjoy your day off but I will want your homework done on Sunday and I will be checking. So no skiving off to practise magecraft if you haven't done it." Waver paused "Come to think of it, if you get a hold of the memory partition and thought acceleration that your learning I wouldn't be surprised if you get an offer to head to secondary school early. Just don't destroy yourself with all this studying and have fun once in a while, okay?" Harry agreed and they continued down into the underground to catch the train. Waver had taken to explaining everything to the three of them as if they where foreign tourists, which wasn't too far from the truth, for the benefit of Stheno and Euryale who had no idea how this stuff worked and had been separated from the world for more than two thousand years. They did not ask questions right then in case what they asked was common knowledge and would make people stare, their vibrant hair colours and beautiful appearances caused enough staring as it was. The symbol on Harry's forehead, partially obscured by his hair was also getting him some attention in addition to his even more unique hair as it was striped back and purple. He kept his gaze fixed downwards so people didn't see the colour of his eyes as he followed Waver through the crowds.

On the Underground Harry took a seat between Stheno and Euryale and Waver sat opposite them. They spent the journey mostly in silence. They where each thinking their own thing. The gorgon sisters where comparing how people lived in their time to how things where now. The saw how everything was so much more complicated but they were curious enough that they would eventually be able to function completely within this time period, the language lozenges had helped them greatly but it would be a number of months until they felt more comfortable with all the technical stuff available. In that respect the clock tower was perhaps the best place for them right now as it didn't make use of technology and was a century or more in the past which was much more to their tastes but they would come to understand the modern world eventually as they where immortal and would keep on living as things got even further ahead, better to be aware of what was happening now before humans flew to the moon or something crazy like that.

Waver was lost in thought about his lectures this coming week. He had organised his schedule so he could see Harry off to school Mondays and Thursdays and be available to him after school on Wednesdays and Fridays. He was decidedly curious. Most magi looked down on mundane education as being superfluous to their needs and only learned what they felt relevant to their craft. The exception was if the child was visible in social society such as Japan where they lived amongst the mundane populace unlike the mage's association which hid itself from the public or the Atlas Academy that was hidden somewhere in the Egyptian mountains. He wondered how someone with a complete mundane education with access to the clock tower's resources develop. Fortunately for him, he had a front row seat to whatever this was.

Harry's thoughts where on the school they where even now heading towards. He had tried to make friends in his previous school but Dudley had quickly seen to that. He had a lot of weight to put behind his fist and it didn't matter if he was unskilled as he had his gang to hold the victim down. One in particular had seemed to gravitate towards Dudley, a ratty looking boy named Piers Polkiss if he remembered right. Funny how none of that seemed important to him now. He was going to a school where he was a complete unknown and where no one had any preconceptions about him. There where also no Dursley's telling everyone what a horrible boy he was. True his hair and eye colour where more than unusual and he did have that symbol on his forehead but if his classmates grew up noticing it then he may not have to worry about it in a year or more and everyone would just think of it as a part of him.

They where all brought out of their thoughts as the train came to a stop and they got off. A short walk later found them in front of the school. It was a brick building that looked like it had two floors and some storage space above that. From the outside it looked quite boxy. There was a set of gates to either side of the building and the ones on the left where open and a few students where arriving despite how early they where. They headed in to where they guessed the main office to be and asked the receptionist if they would be allowed to see the principal. The receptionist gave them a critical look. They knew what she was looking at, two women with purple hair that she would have thought had been dyed and a man, none of the three looking older than early twenties with a young boy perhaps five years old. The five year old then decided to look up and the receptionist couldn't stop the flinch as she looked into those crimson eyes spotted with purple and green surrounded by a pale lavender sclera. She gulped and decided not to question the emblem on his forehead, it was honestly the most easily accepted part of him. With the floor length striped hair, the unnerving eyes and the obscure symbol on his head with the ghost pale skin and slim build he looked most certainly exotic, the receptionist was half expecting him to sprout fangs and introduce himself as a vampire. She just decided to ask if they had an appointment and finding they had sent them on their way. She made a promise to herself to get herself stinking drunk tonight, when the boy had smiled at her she swore she could see fangs.

The meeting with the principal went well enough. When asked about the hair and eye colour they said it was a genetic quirk from the maternal line and the mark on his forehead was something private. They filled out contact details for emergencies giving Waver the responsibility of getting them as the others didn't have phones or such. Then Harry was taken to meet his classmates.

He entered the classroom just as the teacher finished the register and looked up to see Harry, Stheno, Euryale, Waver and the principal enter the room. The principal addressed the class.

"Right everyone, this here is Harry Potter and he will be joining your class from now on. Please get along" They left Harry there after he had said goodbye to all three of them and they'd said that the gorgon sisters and Zelretch would be by to pick him up later. It had been decided that Stheno and Euryale wouldn't go to far from the clock tower until they where more familiar with the modern world. Harry turned to look at the class and the teacher chose then to make herself known.

"Right everyone, I'm sure you have questions for Harry here but let's do what we were supposed to for now and get down to drawing as we are scheduled." The class was separated randomly into groups of four and Harry found himself with a boy and two girls who introduced themselves as Jared, Sarah and Emily. They where set to work sketching an object on the table before them, amusingly enough Harry's group got a model of Gandalf from the lord of the rings. He fell into a comfortable murmuring quit with these three and thought that perhaps he might actually make some friends here.


	5. Making Friends

AN: Well this chapter was a bugger to come out. I keep thinking about stuff I want to do in the future. I've got two scenes in Harry's third year all planned out as well as several in fourth and I could probably tell you how second year is going to go right now.

I've never realised the irritation that authors must feel that they can't write what they want to write now but wait for its place. Nevertheless this chapter is done. I read my reviews and saw that I apparently switched between first and third person by accident. I took pains to ensure that didn't happen here.

As for the poll I took the top nine on the list and they are here now. I was kinda expecting to make a 'isn't it sad Sacchin joke' but it seems there are those with less votes than her. Kohaku even had zero votes! Where is the maid love? Anyway I hope that this chapter is apreciated and as usual the forum I have made can be found here:

forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

Feel free to make a topic of your own if there's something you think needs addressing. Next chapter I think will be an eleventh birthday for Harry, his letter and Diagon Alley.

For now, enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 5 – Making friends

Arcueid wandered into the clock tower. It seemed that her grandfather figure, Kischur Zelretch Shweinorg, had called her from slumber. Her interest had sparked at this departure from the norm. She had slept for so long awakening only to kill each incarnation of Roa as it rose only for the bastard to rise again. She had grown used to the monotony. She had grown dull. She wandered towards the Wizard Marshall's rooms passing the magi in the corridors. They seemed startled to see her amongst them. Then again it was most unusual for her to venture out when she wasn't hunting Roa. She had felled him sixteen times now and each time he came closer and closer to slipping through her grasp. She would need to find a way to end him permanently if she was to have peace from this foe. She wandered deeper into the clock tower wondering what her grandfather wanted, a black cat with a bow trailing in her wake.

xxxxx

Harry sat in the visitor's room in Zelretch's quarters a book on dark magic from his home world in his lap. It had been three years since his life had been turned on its head and he couldn't be happier. Granted that while he got along well enough with his mundane classmates he didn't exactly have any friends and within the clock tower he kept pretty much to himself. Still, he was happy. Zelretch had returned to Diagon Alley a few times and returned with more tomes of magic. There was now a room in Harry and the gorgon's quarters that contained a small library of his home world's magical theory. The particular book he was reading had been retrieved from a side street off of Diagon Alley known as Nocturn Alley. Zelretch had said it was the border between what was and wasn't socially acceptable in their magical world and he had been left alone when the alley's inhabitants had caught sight of his red eyes. Harry was making a list of spells that he could use in a combat situation when he finally got his wand and was determined to practice them when he was here as their ministry could hardly track him from one dimension to another could it? He was currently looking at a blood boiling hex that was designed for use against vampires and when weakened was supposed to be good for torture when one wished to avoid the legal ramifications of the unforgivables. He was quite intrigued with this one as he wondered if it could be used for a more beneficial use like boiling water. He had been doing that a lot, looking at dark and feared magic and amusing himself by thinking of alternative uses for it.

The door opened and Harry looked up. There was an unfamiliar woman stood in the door. She had golden blonde hair that fell almost to her shoulders and crimson eyes that indicated she might not be truly human, not that it bothered Harry as he tended to get along better with those that where other than human, She wore a white turtle-neck jumper and a long liquorice coloured skirt that fell to mid thigh, dark grey socks could just be seen beneath before her feet clad in a sensible pair of nondescript black shoes. What caught Harry's attention was her expression. She looked as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, to be honest she looked to be on the verge of folding under her emotions and pressures. A black cat followed her in and cocked its head at Harry before seeming to shrug its shoulders and jumped onto the arm of the chair he was sat on. Harry started stroking the cat as he addressed the woman, "Hello there. Are you looking for someone?"

Arcueid was confused. These where her grandfather's quarters no doubt, there where the same pictures up as there were the last time she was here and the furniture was the same so who was this boy? She did not recognise him but something about him seemed familiar to her. He looked to be about eight years of age and was thus too young to be anyone she'd met since last she awoke. She could see that his eyes where predominantly red but held flecks of purple and green surrounded by a pale lavender sclera. He had black hair liberally streaked with purple and Ghost pale skin. He was most certainly unique and as such should be easy to identify but she could not recall anyone like him. She decided to see if she was indeed in the right place. "I was to see the Wizard Marshall Zelretch but I seem to be in the wrong place, do you know where I could find him?"

Harry furrowed his brow. Zelretch had gone out earlier and wasn't due back for an hour or two. He'd had that infernal smirk on his face as he had disappeared out the door and suggested Harry get some quiet study done in this room as it would be quiet for a while, something his quarters currently weren't as Zelretch had decided that last night was a good time to introduce the concept of drinking for the sake of being social to Stheno and Euryale. They where groaning to themselves from the bender they'd pulled that lasted until six this morning and Harry thought it best to accept the offer. He should have known that Zelretch would have something planned. "You have the right place but I'm afraid that the Wizard Marshall is not due to return for an hour or more. If there is something I can help you with I would be delighted to do so. My name is Harry Potter. Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

"Arcueid Brunestud" She replied "My apologies but as I understood it Zelretch had called me for some purpose of which I am unaware but I would be glad to share your company for now if you would have me." She was curious about this boy that seemed to be quite comfortable in her grandfather's quarters. He didn't seem to know who she was and she wanted to know how he would feel about being near someone with her reputation.

"The white princess huh? Well that explains why you're looking for gramps at least." Harry was also curious. He had, of course, heard of her beforehand but she seemed to be more than just a weapon that books and other magi described her as. He wondered how she felt with her reputation. He'd read some of the stories about himself that where running rampant throughout his home dimension. Honestly, Harry Potter and the Pharaoh' curse had to be the most ridiculous one so far. How the populace could think that an eight year old that couldn't even have a wand yet would manage to single handedly defeat an army of nine thousand resurrected warriors after over-coming a deadly poison and then engage in witty banter with the villain thus unmasking his evil plans before flying away on a dragon with the pretty pureblood heiress, and why was it always a pureblood? He was a halfblood himself as he had non-magical grandparents. This is before the blood adoption of course, now he was more likely to be called a half-breed because of the influence of Zelretch and the gorgon sisters. "Say, I made some muffins the other day, would you care to taste test them for me?" Seeing as how everyone else was either busy or severely hungover.

Arcueid blinked. Apparently, apart from that opening comment, he didn't think any differently of her because of her status. She felt her interest grow and a small smile appeared on her face. "I would like that. Thank you very much. I'm sure they're delicious."

Harry grinned "Sure. I'll be right back. My quarters are next door but everyone else is hungover so I was doing some reading in here to get away from it all." With that he disappeared out of the door.

Arcueid looked at the cat that seemed disappointed to have lost its personal scratcher. "Well you sure where enjoying yourself Len." Said cat, now identified as Len perked up before nodding her head. "Was he a good scratcher? Did he get all the right places?" Vigorous nodding was the reply she got from the black feline. Arcueid chuckled. How long had it been since she had taken it easy? Too long it seemed.

A minute later Harry returned bearing a tray with two dozen muffins on it. Some where chocolate chip while others seemed to be plain and some had cherries in them. "Help yourself to any you want. I make enough sweets to feed half the clock tower when left alone for too long" He chuckled as he placed the tray down on the table between the seats.

Arcueid picked one up, a cherry one, and took a tentative bite. Her eyes lit up. This was delicious. There may not be enough muffins in the world to satisfy her if they all tasted like this. Before she knew it she had reached for another, a chocolate chip one this time. At her expression Harry let out a little chuckle and Arcueid... giggled? With that the tension eased and the two fell into easy conversation. The muffins disappeared at a rapid pace, even Len looked hooked when she managed to snag a few.

xxxxx

It was more than four hours later when Zelretch decided to take a peak at project friendship as he had determined to name it. Honestly, the boy spoke to his classmates and that was it, he didn't seem to relate to any of them at all. He supposed that should be obvious with the radically different lifestyles and keeping magecraft a secret, that was a rather large part of Harry's life after all. Therefore Zelretch decided that Harry would probably make friends with those of a more interesting origins and really, Arc could do with some friends too. Thus it was that when he nudged the door open to take a peak and found the two in animated conversation with Len curled up in Harry's lap with half a muffin between her paws that he counted it a success. He looked down at the list in his hands and put a big tick next to the first name on the list. Now all he needed was to keep the trend going and he would have his own circle of friends with him.

xxxxx

When it came to evening, it was only the lengthening shadows that alerted Harry and Arcueid, call me Arc, Brunestud to how late it had gotten. Arcueid got up to leave and Zelretch chose that moment to push the door open and come in himself.

"Ah! Grandfather," Arc said "You called for my presence but it seems I must have gotten the day wrong or something, I'm sorry"

Zelretch looked over Arcueid and noticed the glowing smile that adorned her face, yes this definitely was a success. "Hmm? I'm sorry my dear but I seem to have forgotten what it was. You are however always welcome here. There's no need to wait for me to call for you." He replied, easily lifting a confused expression onto his face.

"Yes, you're always welcome to visit me too. I really enjoyed your company today Arc and would be glad of it in future." harry chimed in. He had been genuinely happy today, he had been able to talk to her without the land mines that littered his conversations with his classmates. He had even told her of his origins and Arc had exclaimed that it must be why he felt familiar, he had some similarities to Zelretch from the blood adoption and that was what had set her off. "You too Len, though I'm sure that Arc can also give you a good scratch every now and then." He addressed the cat. The cat, to his surprise, shook its head before transforming into a petite girl that looked to be about twelve years old with light blue hair to her mid-back and red eyes like Arcueid. She also had a large black bow in her hair like her cat form did. Harry blinked at her for a moment before she reached forward and hugged him. He was definitely surprised to find a girl in his lap but hugged back nevertheless.

When he let go Len hopped off his lap and switched back to being a cat and followed Arc out the door. From then on it was pretty common to find Arcueid visiting her friend in the clock tower every month or so and even when she didn't a black cat with an ornamental bow on it became a common sight around the clock tower. It was also interesting that Harry took up a greater interests in desserts and Arc would often be the first to sample each of his creations much to her delight.

xxxxx

It was not often that one of the sorcerers visited the clock tower these days, Zelretch being the exception as he seemed to be an almost permanent resident now, but here the only other current master of a true sorcery had come to the clock tower. She had just returned after a long sojourn in the 'real world' as she called it and had come to speak with the association because of vague but troubling news she had heard of. Apparently Nrvnqsr Chaos was scheming something big but what she hadn't been able to find out. She may be a master of the fifth magic but she was only one person and the mage's association consisted of magi from all over the world. If news was anywhere it would be there. She enters the cafeteria and looks around to see if there is anyone here she can speak to. She had found that pubs and the like, where people gather in number, where excellent places to gather information. Unfortunately, the lunch rush was over as it was now half three and there weren't many people about the place.

One table however did catch her eye. What appeared to be two children were sat at a table in a corner. Both wearing black, one boy and one girl. The girl had light blue hair with a black bow tied in it that stopped just above her waist and crimson eyes that immediately got Aoko's attention. The boy on the other hand had black hair, heavily streaked with purple, that fell and pooled at the floor beside his feet. There was ,what appeared at first glance, to be an ordinary pair of glasses on the boys face but she'd seen her sister's creation's often enough to recognise a pair of mystic eye killers when she saw them. They where the only interesting looking people in the room right now and they where dressed more sensibly than most others. The girl wore a dress and the boy had on a pair of trousers and a shirt but he also had on what looked to be a pair of matte black armour plates on his thighs above a pair of army boots and he wore a pair of vambraces on his forearms. There was a tray between them that held a selection of muffins, cookies and other tasty looking pastries. Aoko wandered over to them and asked "May I please sit here?"

The two children looked at her and she caught sight of the boy's eyes properly for the first time. They where red like the girl's, but where hers where a bright crimson his where a darker wine red. In these red eyes however where flecks of colour in green and purple all surrounded by a pale lavender sclera. She blinked a moment before recomposing herself enough to hear the boy reply "Sure, why not. Try a pastry or cookie. I baked them myself. You might want to grab a few before Len gets them all though. I think she's addicted. My name is Harry by the way, Harry Potter." The girl with him nodded too but seemed to eye the tray before as if wondering how quickly she could eat the array of snacks presented there.

"Don't mind if I do, thank you. My name is Aoko Aozaki." she replied. She looked for the recognition and wasn't disappointed however the next emotion surprised her. Acceptance. As if her reputation for explosions meant nothing to him. The girl didn't even look up, engrossed as she was staring at the tray of food on the table. She took a rolled up Danish pastry and took a bite out of it. She nearly sighed in pleasure. Whoever this kid was, he was good. She'd never tasted anything like it. She continued munching on this piece of heaven in her mouth while she looked at the two of them. Neither seemed to be from a typical magus family judging by their clothes and lack of a haughty demeanour but then again she was in a simple dress and not the extravagant old fashioned ensembles prevalent in magus families. "If you don't mind me asking, who are you? You seem a little young to be sent to the clock tower and neither of you strikes me as a traditional sort"

It was the boy, Harry who answered once again "I've been raised here since I was five. I haven't had the most typical upbringing for either mundanes or magi but it works for me. I suppose I am a little younger than most here. I'm nine. It makes it a little hard here considering how condescending everyone can be. I met Len here and another friend almost a year ago now and they drop by usually every month or so. Len here sometimes comes every week or two but I think she just wants my cooking," he joked. Len looked at him with wide innocent eyes and pouted. It be almost angelic if it wasn't for the crumbs around her mouth.

"So what're you doing with my sisters mystic eye killers? Only the most unusual or powerful eyes use them. Most other eyes can be deactivated." She gave an enquiring glance at the grin that spread across Harry's face. After four years his research had been successful. While they where never going to be anywhere near as powerful as Medusa's eyes he was quite proud of his accomplishment. These mystic eye killers where only temporary however and could get knocked off or someone could grab them far too easily for his liking. While everyone in the clock tower knew the significance of the glasses he wore, people in his home world would not and that could be dangerous. He'd only had to wear the glasses for the last month since his project had finished and he'd put in an order for modified mystic eye killers to Touko Aozaki based of off the designs that Stheno and Euryale had drawn up of Medusa's breaker gorgon. It would be a one-way blindfold that allowed him to see out of it but no one could see into that was locked to his prana signature and intentions. Only he would be able to remove it and not when he was forced or unconscious. That should help keep people safe from accidents in his home world when he returned there.

"My eyes are constantly active. I can increase their potency by feeding prana into them but I think that they are powerful enough as they are" That was too damn true. The rats and mice that he had experimented with when he first made them had almost instantly petrified without any extra prana. A few more experiments and he concluded that it would take about a full second for a human sized target with no resistance to magecraft (i.e.: a normal human) to succumb to their effects and about three times as long for a magical from his home world due to the differing nature of magic between the two worlds as they would have no resistance to it other than what they naturally had. He would however need either longer to do so to a magus or he would have to pump prana into them to overcome the natural resistance magi of this world possessed though they would still feel the lethargy even without any extra help. "May I ask what brings you to the clock tower?" Harry enquired

Aoko gave a short bark of laughter before answering "Sure, I was going to find if there was anything to these rumours I've been hearing of Nrvnqsr Chaos becoming more active of late or if they're even true." She stopped as she saw the two look at each other, idly noting that this was the first time since she arrived that the girl Len had looked away from the snacks.

It was Harry who answered "You sure you where asking about Nrvnqsr Chaos in particular?" He asks. His lip is twitching almost as if he's trying not to smirk.

"Yes, that is the one I meant" Aoko wondered if it really should have been this easy to find information. Why should a child not yet ten know what she had been searching for during the last couple of weeks?

"Japan. Last I heard he was sniffing around a place called Misaki City. Kinda unfortunate that it's also the last place that Roa is supposed to be stalking too. Arcueid left for there a little more than a fortnight ago." Did she hear the boy right? Arcueid Brunestud, Michael Roa Valdumjong and Nrvnqsr Chaos all in one town? The town where the Shiki boy lived at that? She can just imagine the chaos that would occur if he were to remove his glasses around one of them. Damn was nothing ever simple?

"Dammit" She said "Thanks for the snack kid but if something like that is going down then I'm going to check up on there myself. I know a kid in the area and I can see him getting mixed up in it all. Not a pleasant situation." She cleared up and stood, ready to go in a moment.

"Sure thing, Say hi next time you drop by. You can either find me here, in Zelretch's quarters or next door to him in my own. Good luck on whatever you're trying to do." Harry called as she departed. She waved over her shoulder to him and the quiet girl. She may very well say hi to him when next she was nearby or had some free time. She wasn't going to let the magi corrupt this one too far. He would understand the weight of a life if she had anything to say about it. She would also be partial to another snack if he decided to bake one while she was there. She wondered what was to become of that boy, Harry Potter, in years to come as she left the clock tower to head to Misaki city.

xxxxx

It wasn't long after that when Zelretch decided that the time was ripe to introduce Harry to some more people. Under the pretence of checking on everything in Misaki town Zelretch took Harry part way with him leaving him in the nearby city of Fuyuki, depending on how things went in the near future Harry might well be a master in the grail war due in five years, it would after all be the best way for him to meet Medusa, the last of the sisters and technically his aunt even if she didn't know it. It would be best if he at least knew something of the place before he was a participant. Staying only long enough to sign in to a hotel for a week he left Harry to his own devices.

Harry was quite content to stay in his room and read some more of the textbooks from his home world. Right now he was reading a book on blood magic. He was thinking that his new Friday project would be to get rid of Arcueid's desire for human blood. He had found a ritual wherein if you had someone's blood you could enforce a desire in someone. It was apparently an ancient form of clean murder, it didn't leave any signs on the corpse at all. If someone committed suicide and there was no instantly viable reason for it then magic could easily be the cause but the body would have no trace of the imperius curse or a compulsion charm when checked. This was an uncommonly direct use of the spell. It could be resisted but the thing about it was that the less someone was opposed to something then the greater power it had over someone. It was more often used with someone's wife, a personal guard or even one of the common staff as their blood was a lot easier to get a hold of. He decided that when he got home ,he would dig out an arithmancy book and see if he could puzzle out the spell matrix and modify it for his own purposes.

It wasn't until the third day that he decided to stretch his legs. Summer was almost over and school was just around the corner. It was a Saturday and Harry decided to see if there was a child's play park nearby. It was good to see kids just having fun. He still remembered his time with the Dursley's and how he had been bullied, especially by his cousin. He was therefore angered when he came across a group of boys picking on a girl about his age.

The girl in question had hair a few shades darker than the purple in his and an expression that seemed completely vacant. It was like the body was occupied but the person inside had gone on holiday or something. She was like an empty shell. He was so pissed off he didn't notice he was amongst them and beating the crap out of them until he had already downed three of them but there was at least twice that left. He continued the beat down for a while longer, he'd been sparring with Stheno and Euryale for years now and while not professional fighters, they did have the advantage of beyond human speed and strength. He may have gained a boost to his own strength and speed from the blood adoption so his own reactions and combat capabilities where already beyond what is average for a human his age, he may have also used reinforcement and had sewn runic arrays for speed, strength and endurance into all his clothes but he still lost every time. He'd gotten so frustrated once that he now covered the inside of everything with runic arrays, even his underwear and socks. Some may laugh at it but Harry at least could say that no sock of his ever had a single hole in it. He's also taken to wearing fingerless gloves with runic arrays on. The left glove discharged electric shocks when prana was passed through the array, making his opponent's muscles to spasm and his right fist discharged a mild paralytic effect. Both had speed, strength and endurance runes sewn in as well. All his runes where on the inside of the clothing to avoid questions in the mundane world. He'd also started sparring with one of the youngest enforcers recently too, a young woman named Bazett Fraga McRemitz. She also specialised in runes but was way better than he was and had taken on a mentor like role to him despite only being seventeen herself.

It was with this overwhelming advantage that all the bullies had been knocked out. It was also at this point that he realised that he had been joined by another boy. He had amber eyes and rust red hair. He looked like he could be no more than a year older than Harry himself. He had put down a bully or two himself and while he did not have the presence of a fighter like Harry did, he still held his own just now. As one the two boys regarded each other and seemingly finding the other not a threat they both relaxed. They turned to the girl.

She had not moved throughout the encounter. Responding neither to the bullies nor to the two of them getting involved. It was the red-haired boy that took the initiative. "Are you okay?" He asked earnestly, you could definitely hear the care in his voice "They didn't hurt you too much did they?"

The girl had a bloody lip but that was the only sign of violence there was. "Here" Harry said "let me get that." and with that he wiped the blood from her mouth with his thumb. "Pretty girls should always look their best."

At that the girl seemed to focus a little and deciding to get more of a response Harry introduced myself "Hi there. My name is Harry Potter. May I know the name of the lovely lady?" The girl seemed to consider this for a moment.

"Sakura Matou" was her dull monotone reply. She said, nothing else, she didn't expand on that, ask a question or even move a muscle more than necessary. Okay, Harry was beginning to wonder about his luck. Matou, formerly Makiri was a known magus family that has faded in renown somewhat due to producing progressively weaker offspring where magecraft is concerned. He knew that the magecraft they utilise is somewhat unusual but what it is exactly he either couldn't recall or didn't know in the first place.

"And I'm Shirou Emiya" The red headed boy added "Pleased to meet you Matou-san, Potter-san" Harry's senses instantly sharpened at the name Emiya. He knew that name. How could he not? Horror stories of the magus killer and his exploits were commonplace. He would ask the boy about it later. He did not have the presence of an assassin, he didn't move with the noticeable economy of movement. Similarly his eyes held none of the right emotions, they where caring and bright, they looked like a negative thought had never even crossed them before. There was also something hidden, he did not know what but it was deep and it seemed to have locked some form of trauma deep in his psyche.

"Harry's fine, I'm english, I don't really adhere to your strict policies of formality that you have here. I only have a passing knowledge of them too so please ignore me if I make a blunder here or there." He replied waving a hand as he did in a dismissive gesture.

"Sakura" Was all the girl said. Seriously what was up with this girl. She was either really damned shy or there was something else going on. Unfortunately Harry would only be here for another four days and she might not appreciate him sticking my nose in her business.

Shirou it seemed was incapable of reading the atmosphere very well. He simply grabbed one of their hands each and essentially dragged them from the play park and the bullies still laid out on the floor. "Come on, there's a better play area a few minutes away where we can play together!" Harry decided to take his word for it. It was useless to argue with idiots. They just dragged you down to their level and beat you with experience. He had not yet put Shirou in this category but he was certainly impulsive.

xxxxx

It was over an hour later that Harry felt someone's gaze on me. He glanced around casually as he pushed Sakura on a swing, and boy she had managed to cheer up, even if only marginally. He saw her at quite the distance away looking at him. No, she wasn't looking at him, she was looking at Sakura. He subtly reinforced my eyes without channelling any prana towards the mystic qualities of said eyes, the bad thing about them was if he charged their effects they had the tendency to glow, they even glowed without the extra prana but it was hard to notice in the light and only became apparent in the dark.

The girl staring at them was wearing clothes in a black and red colour scheme and she seemed to look at Sakura with longing mixed with desire and shame. He pushed Sakura once more and then went to lean against the climbing frame that Shirou was on "Don't look right now," Harry said "but there's a girl looking our way from the north that looks a little sad and lonely. You're the brave one, you go talk to her will you?"

Shirou's gaze flickered to the girl and then he swung of the bar he was climbing and made his way over to the girl. Harry didn't know what he said but the girl's cheeks suddenly erupted into a blush at one point. Shirou soon after led her towards them. "Guys, this is Rin Tohsaka. Tohsaka-san, these are are Harry Potter, Sakura Matou and once again myself, Shirou Emiya." he indicated each of us as he went along. Once again, Harry wondered about the people he encountered. The Tohsaka where well known along with the Edelfelt family for being major users of jewel craft and the former being second owners of Fuyuki.

The introductions between individuals followed and as they were using first names Rin asked them to use hers as well. The greeting between Rin and Sakura was stilted and awkward but Shirou seemed oblivious to it. It didn't matter. After a period of awkwardness they were soon having fun playing together as children do.

It was later in the evening when they put a stop to their games. They all had a healthy flush to their skin from running around and the like. Shirou and Harry decided to walk the girls home. Despite protests Rin found herself first as she lived the closest. That went fairly simply with the only complication being how impressed Shirou was with the size of her home.

Sakura was next and they walked her back home too. Harry got an uneasy feeling as they approached the place and from the look of things Shirou was no better off. When they reached her home they found it was the one giving us an uneasy feeling. Maybe it had a bounded field set up to discourage enemy magi from approaching but for some reason he doubted it. It was with some reluctance that they parted ways with her before setting off again. Harry decided now was as good a time as any to broach the subject that had been nagging him recently. Kiritsugu Emiya had dropped off the map five years ago and hadn't been heard from since. It had put a number of people on edge wondering when he would strike next.

"So," He said "Emiya, huh? You wouldn't be any relation to Kiritsugu would you?" If Shirou was a magi then he would probably be instantly alert, if he wasn't then chances are he wasn't related to Kiritsugu at all.

He didn't react in either way. He simply looked nostalgic as he looked skyward "Yeah, he adopted me five years ago after a terrible fire. He died recently and is now buried in the graveyard behind the shrine on that mountain there" he said indicating Mount Enzou. "Why? Have you heard of him?"

Harry just stopped in the middle of the street and stared and Shirou in disbelief. "You don't know?"

Shirou just looked confused "Don't know what?"

Harry was amazed. Adopted and raised by the magus killer yet this boy was nothing like him, or at least the stories he's heard about him. "Kiritsugu Emiya was known as the magus killer. You are a magus yes?"

Shirou blinked "The old man wouldn't be known as something like that! He always talked about wanting to be a hero when he was younger. He would never be any kind of killer!"

Harry sighed "Kill one to save ten, ten to save a hundred and a hundred to save a thousand. That was the creed of Kiritsugu Emiya otherwise known as the magus killer. Look let's head somewhere more private for this, shall we?"

Shirou agreed and they where soon hidden within the Emiya estate. Harry was wary at first but only found a proximity boundary looking for hostile intent. Very subtle but not particularly useful.

xxxxx

They sat down and then Shirou asked "W-well? What can you tell me of the Kiritsugu Emiya you know of?" he stuttered a bit but he obviously wanted to know so Harry told him everything he could remember about that infamous assassin. He told of how he had lost his mother early and how his father and he where on the run from the magus association and travelled the world together. He settled on an island, the name of which Harry couldn't recall, and stayed there a year before Kiritsugu's father Norikata's research somehow got loose and turned the island population into dead apostles. The island was overrun with executors of the church and enforcers from the mage's association. Kiritsugu was saved from the cleansing by Natalia Kaminski, one of the enforcers. Kiritsugu returned home to confront his father and turned a gun on him. Kiritsugu was the one to shoot down his own father. Natalia, who had succubus blood in her, took Kiritsugu under her wing and taught him everything she could, not limiting herself to magecraft. One of the magus killer's most infamous moments was when he shot down an aeroplane that contained his mother figure, which is what Natalia had become to him. It was in order to destroy the plane that contained hundreds of ghouls under the command of a dead apostle but he killed all the same. That was when he adopted his creed. About sixteen years ago he took on an apprentice who he named Maiya Hisui. He trained her like Natalia trained him. It was five years ago that Kiritsugu became a participant in the grail war and all information on him dries up.

Shirou looks shocked. He, at last, knows more of his father's history than he has ever been told by the man himself. This however does not deter Shirou from his path as he says "Even though dad could never become a hero of justice that was his dream and I will follow that dream no matter how I may falter along the way. I may only be able to forge a single circuit but I'll make it count!"

Harry blinks at this "Forge a circuit? What do you mean?" At this Shirou explains his near suicidal tendencies to transform his nerves temporarily into an artificially created a magic circuit. Harry starts banging a hand against his head "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" he repeats over and over again.

"What's so stupid about it? It's all I can do!" Shirou cries. As you might have guessed, Shirou despises being useless.

Harry just glares at him for a moment then. "Dammit, lean forward a second and let me check something." Shirou pauses for moment before complying. Harry puts his own forehead against Shirou's and pushes some of his prana into him for a second before withdrawing. "You do have circuits. More than twenty I can tell but no more than thirty. If you want I can come round tomorrow with some chalk, paint and what not and we'll get those circuits activated. Be aware however that this will hurt, okay?"

Shirou nods then says "There's some paint here so you don't need that."

Harry asks "Lead paint?" Shirou nods "Good," he thinks for a moment "We'll need some copper shavings and your blood will be mixed into this too okay?" Getting another nod he continues "This will be painful and after that you can show me what magecraft you've been using with that deranged method of yours." Harry sighed before getting up, bidding him goodbye and then heading back to his hotel room "Why do I always get the crazy ones?" Harry asks the night sky.

The next day Harry writes down all he can recall from the ritual necessary to activate magic circuits. Luckily it's a simply one that requires one magus to activate the circuits of another. You would have to get your circuits themselves cursed to be incapable of it so he had no idea what Kiritsugu had been thinking!

He called round the house fairly early like they had agreed. He knocked at the door which opened to reveal a teenage girl he didn't recognise. He couldn't feel any circuits from this one either dormant or active so decided on the peaceful way. "Excuse me miss but is Shirou home? It's just that I'm new here and I'm only staying for a week while my father is on business and he offered to show me around" I say it loud enough to be heard from the kitchen so Shirou doesn't contradict my story.

The girls grin nearly splits her face "What's this? Is Shirou starting to make friends? Finally!" the excitable teen grabs a hold of my hand and seems to be trying to dance a jig with me despite my reluctance. It is to this sight that Shirou steps out of the doorway to the right.

"Fuji-nee, "He says "Stop harassing the guest please." Judging by the deadpan expression and tone then this is par for the course for her. Who would have thought that the residence of the magus killer would end up like this?

It wasn't long before the teacher left after eating breakfast with Shirou. Harry tasted a bit of it and a twinkle appeared in his eye. Harry was more than pleased with his cooking but he had little experience with eastern dishes however his speciality would always be desserts. He wondered how a cooking challenge would sound to his new friend.

"Do you have an open flat space that we could use for the circle?" Harry asks Shirou.

"Yeah, we can use the outbuilding. I practice what magecraft I know there" Shirou replied before leading him out back and into a shed which seemed to be filled with random junk.

"Well," Harry sighs "let's get this under way."

xxxxx

It was about half an hour later that Shirou sat shirtless inside a drawn out ritual circle and he was glancing around at it. He did not know what any of this did or how it worked so he had to ask "Is all this really necessary?" Harry looked at him, he raised an eyebrow at Shirou.

"For the activation of your circuits? No. The extra is to find your element and origin. That is definitely useful knowledge to have." Harry then went about double checking everything. The circle was fine. The extra circle he'd drawn on Shirou's chest and back was fine too. There was another point for Shirou's naivety. There was no typical magus that would allow another whom they didn't trust completely to draw runes directly on your skin.

Harry took a deep breath before he channelled his prana into the circles in front of him. It began to glow a royal blue. Harry pushed his prana towards Shirou and tried to drag prana through his existing circuits. It was like fishing in a way. You cast a line of prana to catch their od and pulled it back through the circuits to begin their usage. Their where other methods. Someone could swallow an object rich in prana and that would push the prana out through the circuits. He didn't exactly carry things charged with prana that could easily be swallowed. He didn't think that Shirou would want to swallow one of the daggers he carried. They did, after all, have runic arrays for sharpness and electricity etched into them and he had soaked them in Stheno and Euryale's venom so putting them in your mouth might result in most unpleasant side effects such as death.

Harry reached for each circuit in turn and kept count of how many where activated: one, then two then five, nine, thirteen, seventeen, twenty, twenty four, twenty seven and that was the last one. There was a sudden rush of prana and unseen by both of them a forgotten circle in the corner of the room glowed blue before fading once again.

Harry opens his eyes and looks at Shirou as if irritated. Even Shirou wasn't dense enough to miss this. "Is something wrong?" Harry's right eye begins to twitch.

"Nothing really. It's just your element and origin are the same," he says "Simply put you are going to be completely useless at thaumaturgy in general. You will however excel in a single field beyond all others." Harry sighs before palming his face "Your element and origin is, of all things, sword."

What does that mean?" Shirou asks uncertainly. Sword wasn't an element. The elements where fire, water, metal, stone and air in japanese terms. The west had fire, earth, air and water complemented by ether or void as it was sometimes called. Sword wasn't in either of those lists.

Seeing Shirou's confusion Harry explained. "Though it is usually one of the more traditional elements there are the occasional oddities. There are such things as average ones. These are people who are capable of using all elements equally. There are also those of us like you and me who have an element outside of the norm. In these instances their magecraft can do unusual things that normal magi can't. It is also common that there would be difficulty in using standard magecraft. True in your case but false in mine due to certain circumstances. Simply put if the magic is to do with anything sharp and pointy things then you'll be good at it. If not then you'll be pretty crap to be honest." That seemed to be good enough for Shirou.

"To be honest I've only ever done reinforcement and projection magic before. I don't really know what else I could do." Once again Harry was tempted to do something like introduce his face to a wall. Shirou's education had been almost

entirely non-existent. Thinking of something Harry reached into his back pocket and brought out a pocket knife etched with runic arrays to be sharper of edge and capable of taking more damage before breaking. Harry's habit of sewing runic arrays on his underwear had spread. Anything that had space for an array ended covered in them. He had folder after folder full of possible arrays that he had yet to try out. He doubted he would ever finish testing them all as he kept thinking more up.

Harry held the pocket knife out to Shirou. This one at least hadn't been soaked in gorgon venom like the blades that were hidden in his vambraces, the small of his back and down his boots. "Try analysing this. There are runes along the side making it more than just a mundane blade but it shouldn't be too much for you. After that try projecting it and think over the process as you do it. You may surprise yourself." Shirou took the knife into his hands.

"Trace on!" Shirou immersed himself in the blade. He marvelled at the ease with which he managed it and how great the difference in pain. Before it was like he had been forcing a molten iron bar into his spine whereas now he simply felt a little warm. He turned his attention to the blade in his hand. He didn't understand the runes etched into it but he could certainly tell you what they did. He could tell the age of the blade, he could see the tiny stress marks that surrounded the runes from when they where initially etched into place. He could feel how the plastic handle had moulded itself slightly to Harry's hand. He could also see that it wasn't Harry who had originally purchased it but someone else had bought it and carried it around for about a week before giving it to him. All he could tell about this person was that they where a male and they where very old.

Harry watched as Shirou focused intently on the pocket knife Zelretch had given him and then opened his other hand palm up. Shirou then began muttering under his breath but with a slight bit of reinforcement Harry heard him "Judging the concept of creation, Hypothesising the basic structure, Duplicating the composition material, Imitating the skill of its making, Sympathising with the experience of its growth, Reproducing the accumulated years, Excelling every manufacturing process." By the end of this Aria, if that was what it was, there was a knife sat in Shirou's other hand. At first glance the where identical. Shirou himself was staring at it.

Harry picked it up from Shirou's unresisting hand and threw it lightly against the floor. The blade sank into the concrete for almost two inches. "Well, that's enough proof for me" Shirou started at Harry's words before a big grin spread across his face. From the way he was looking at Harry he would be expecting a tackle hug into a wall if it was Arc. The look was reminiscent of how Len stared at the snacks he made, especially the muffins. Next thing he knew Shirou had his hands on his shoulders and was thanking him profusely. Harry felt like he'd enacted a big change but couldn't for the life of him work out what it was. After all, all he'd done was help another magus, hadn't he?

xxxxx

Zelretch returned when the week was over and found the hotel room empty. He wondered if Harry had managed to encounter any of the ones he had expected him to. He had his bets on the Matou girl. He decided to take a look around the city and see if he could find out what had happened to his apprentice. He headed to the south, there was a play park for children there as he recalled...

Well, Harry had certainly beaten his expectations this time. He had arrived at the play park to find Harry alternately pushing Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou on the swings, both had genuine smiles on their faces, while Shirou Emiya seemed to be fascinated by the metal climbing frame. He had expected the boy to maybe befriend one of them in a week but judging from their interactions they'd met at least a few days ago. With how they where acting he wouldn't have been surprised if they'd met his first day there.

At the sound of a familiar chuckle Harry looked up "Grampa Zel!" He called to the aged vampire. Hearing such an unusual name made the others look up. Sakura and Rin promptly fell off their swings at seeing one of the most famous magi in the world watching them. It took a moment longer to register what Harry had actually called him.

"Wait, what!?" Rin screeched. Harry could guess what she was thinking and decided to be just a touch mischievous and answered in a pointedly vague way.

"Oh he's not actually my grandfather but he did help raise me. Looks like we're going back home to London. Bye Sakura-chan, Bye Rin-chan. Bye Shirou-san." He called before rushing off towards Zelretch, grabbing his suitcase that lay against the fence on the way out. Winking at Zelretch as they walked off together. The last thing they heard was a barely audible Rin seeming to choke.

"Grampa Zelretch?"

xxxxx

The two of them made it three streets before the laughter started. Zelretch looked at Harry "Some would say I've been a bad influence on you."

Harry smirked and replied "So what? Let them, besides that side of me doesn't manifest often," Harry's grin began to shrink as Zelretch's grew.

"Well if that's the case," Zelretch started before placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. The world flickered around them before settling into something completely different. "Find your own way home." Harry swore quite vehemently in several different languages as the laughter faded. He still had several thousand pounds on him unconverted for 'emergencies' as it were and thanks to the language lozenges from years ago he could get along fine in pretty much any location. He sighed. He was just going to have to make the most of it. A low growl caused him to turn around slowly.

He turned and saw what looked like a wolf. Correction, an albino wolf that had been fed nothing but steroids for centuries. Harry looked up. It stood at about nine feet at the shoulder and its body rippled with powerful muscle. Unless he was mistaken his luck had landed him right in front of Primate Murder, The beast of Gaia and every other nickname it had been graced with over its existence. "Oh hell," he said, palming his face "this is just my luck."

With a sigh Harry plopped himself down in front of the incarnation of human death and began to hum a quiet tune under his breath. He looked around himself, Primate Murder was closely associated with Altrouge Brunestud yet he couldn't see her anywhere around. His carefree manner confused Primate Murder, Humans usually screamed at the sight of it and yet this one just sat there.

Primate Murder gave a sniff. It grew even more confused. This one's scent was off. It was like the large amount of human was masking a weaker scent. Taking a step forward and lowering its head for a better sniff Primate Murder was surprised when Harry reached up and scratched its face. 'Oh, that was good!' Primate Murder thought, this one knew all the right places to scratch. Its body went lip under Harry's ministrations and lay down next to him. Harry then began running his other hand down the side of the great white dog and looked to see the tail thumping on the ground. He also noticed something else.

"Well, it seems you are definitely female my dear." Harry mutters."Judging by the sky the time difference between here and Japan is between six and eight hours putting me at somewhere around Germany." with a sigh Harry stood up. Primate Murder whined at the loss of her scratcher before Harry started again "Sorry girl, I don't have the time right now, I need to get myself home," Primate Murder looked at how for a moment before standing. Harry smiled thinking she'd understood. He turned to head west, away from the sun and hopefully towards London. He was therefore surprised when the large wolf grabbed the back of his clothes in her jaws and dumped him on her back. Harry maintained enough presence of mind to grab his suitcase during this. Primate Murder then shot off at great speed, heading mostly west but a touch to the north unless Harry was mistaken.

Primate Murder didn't stop until she came before a raven-haired girl who looked around fourteen. She stopped so abruptly that Harry flew off and only just managed to land on his feet, bending his knees slightly against the impact.

"So you've brought me a snack have you?" the girl asked of the wolf. The wolf barked before bounding over to Harry, who was just getting over his disorientation, and licked him. Not expecting it, Harry tumbled to the ground. Looking up he noticed that, yes, the girl did have red eyes and her black hair did fall in waves to her waist. Unless he was mistake then this was the one he'd been expecting from when he'd first laid eyes on Primate Murder.

"Altrouge Brunestud I'm guessing? My name is Harry Potter. It is a pleasure to meet you here even if I don't actually know where here currently is." Altrouge, for indeed it was her, blinked at this strange person. From his scent he was human but humans didn't usually have purple streaked through their hair and she couldn't smell the chemicals usually used in hair dye. There was that symbol on his forehead too and she felt she should recognise it from somewhere. His blindfold was obviously not normal, she could easily tell that it was created using thaumaturgy. Strangest of all was Primate Murder, she showed no inclination to kill the boy who was now giving said beast a scratch between the ears. Still, he was human and she a dead apostle ancestor. Certain expectations should be met.

"It should be a pleasure to meet me, a short lived one for most and you ask where you are? You are in a forest to the west of Halle, I believe it's called, fairly close to central Germany. Not that any of this should matter to you for much longer." She stated and waited for the fear, begging and the other usual occurrences that usually happened on the rare occasion that she encountered a human. She didn't realise however just how different this one was.

"Are you okay? " He asked her. Altrouge almost tripped over herself in surprise. Here she was threatening his life and he was asking if she was okay! She could hear the genuine concern in his voice and was sure that if it wasn't for that blindfold she would see it in his eyes. How was she to react to this? This wasn't normal behaviour from a human.

"What!? I'm a vampire! You should be running scared not asking after my health." She spluttered. This was so far away from what she was expecting she wondered if Zelretch had something to do with it. Harry looked at the black haired girl before him. She acted proud and haughty but he could see it in her eyes. He supposed he too would get a little lonely if he lived for thousands of years and his only company was a wolf and two other vampires.

"You looked lonely." Was all he said. Altrouge slumped. She wasn't even going to try and fathom this one. She could feed on him but now she really just didn't care. She looked up to see Primate Murder had laid down and this Harry had laid himself against her side with one hand scratching the large head that had been curled round him and ended up in his lap. She sighed and sat beside him.

"What makes you say that?" She asked. She wouldn't fight it. She honestly was lonely. She was the black princess. Humans fled in fear of her and Apostles didn't get together and throw parties. The closest to that was Sumire who spent most of her time while conscious drunk.

Harry looked at her for a moment before replying. "I know what lonely is because I used to be just that but when I was five that changed. You're eyes didn't have that spark that everyone else had. There was something about you that seemed a touch fragile and everyone knows of your reputation. Whether good or bad, a reputation always makes things more difficult than most will ever realise."

Altrouge raised an eyebrow at him then gave a pointed look towards where he his hand was still ministering to Primate Murder. The wolf was actually whimpering in pleasure at what Harry's hand was doing. "You were lonely? You seem to have made a friend in my guardian easily enough. How could you be lonely?"

Harry gave a bitter smile. "Let me tell you a story," He said and that was what he did. He told a story of an orphan abandoned on a doorstep one November night. He told her the story of the orphan who was forced to do all the chores around the house that he was capable of even if he was far too young to know what he was doing. The boy had to grow up quickly. He lived in a shoe cupboard under the stairs. He had no friends in the neighbourhood. Everyone avoided the horrible child that had been dumped in his honest relatives when they'd died in a drunken car accident that they'd caused. Harry's voice that had been a monotone throughout the whole thing thus far gained a slight edge to it when the beatings and punishments came into it. Finally came the change. How beautiful everything looked outside of his small world and even further beyond that. Still, besides those he considered family he was ambivalent to everyone. He didn't know how to make friends and those who could have been his friend didn't know how to relate to him. He was happier than before but still he was rather isolated. That was until a meddling old man decided to do something about it. The story cheered up even more at that as Harry regaled her with the antics that happened whenever one or more of them turned up. How they always devoured whatever snacks he placed in front of them and brought him out of his shell. He still did not connect with the masses. You could even say that everyone he connected was broke or twisted in one form or another but they where friends all the same.

Altrouge looked at him and thought of the story. It clicked then "That was you wasn't it?" She asks. A slight nod of the head is her only reply. She slides herself over to him and leans against his shoulder "Harry," she says. He looks right at her. "Could you be my friend?" she asks. A smile spreads across Harry's face before he leans forward and hugs her. Altrouge allows herself to sink into the hug and rests her chin on his shoulder. They both jump a little when they feel something brush against them but they see that it's only Primate Murder wrapping herself around them as if she too is joining in the hug. Altrouge smiles. Things where definitely looking up for her.

xxxxx

It was almost two weeks later until Harry turned up at the clock tower and Zelretch had feared that he'd gone to far on the last one, perhaps Altrouge wasn't ready for it but with both Strout and Sveltan attending to there own territories there hadn't been a better chance. He was about to head out when he felt Harry's presence at the edge of his senses. He released a breath of air he didn't realise he'd been holding. He was getting more and more normal by the day he thought but oddly he did not mind.

Harry however had been trying to sneak into the clock tower with no one noticing but it seemed he was less than successful. The proof of which was that he was stood in a corridor facing none other than Lorelei Barthomeloi herself. He'd had no contact with her since his first week in the clock tower. He hoped she wouldn't snipe at him like the other magi. Their snide comments really got to him. Their jealousy at a child that wasn't from an identified family of magi had gotten an apprenticeship with Zelretch and was still such several years later was nearly palpable.

"I do not know where you have been but I will say this. Any of your guests in the clock tower are your responsibility. If it is someone that does not wish to be seen then use the rear entrance that emerges on the south side. This is the only warning I will give. Any one you bring to the clock tower or comes to visit is strictly your responsibility. You will be held accountable for whatever they do and the punishment will fit the impeachment." She handed him a key and then walked purposefully away leaving a stunned Harry behind her. That was almost a friendly wave and a hi from the vice-director!

Lorelei walked away with a smirk on her face. She honestly liked the boy and it helped that with all the mutterings about him, there had been a reduction in 'magus politics' as she termed it and had made her job infinitely easier. She didn't even mind if he befriended apostles. The condition being that he would stop them feeding at random. She could tolerate apostles with self control, she had to after all. The Kaleidoscope had become a pretty constant face around the clock tower in recent years and she even had to deal with the crown a time or two when she had interacted with the holy church. Honestly, if there where more like Harry then he job would be even easier. She'd heard the rumour going round that Harry would have to leave the clock tower for extended periods of time when he reached eleven and she wondered what the magi would do when their favourite target wasn't around to complain about. She didn't know that from now on Altrouge Brunestud became a frequent guest of the clock tower. Harry had taken her warning to heart and took pains to make sure she wasn't discovered.

xxxxx

Rizo-Waal Strout and Fina-Blood Sveltan where confused. The black princess had become far more independent lately and she had just told them that she was fine and they should return to their own territories on a more permanent basis. They did so but still wondered what had changed her in the month they had been away. Whatever it was could only be good, right?


	6. A Birthday and An Alley

AN: Okay, I've had some reviews say I'm going to far with Harry to the point of Mary Sue so I'll just stick this here

[Spoilers]

About his family. Yes, he has a powerful family but they will not and in some cases can not get involved for reasons that I shall explain later. There will also be repercussions from some when they find out what his family is.

His looks. A blood adoption is meant to be for humans. The gorgons and Zelretch aren't human. This is going to cause problems around his magical maturity. It also draws attention to him that he doesn't want.

His eyes. He cannot often use his mystic eyes. Either there is the risk of allies catching sight of them and being affected or he does not have enough time to remove his blindfold. Because of how it is sealed it takes time to remove so it can't be done by accident.

Harry is not going to befriend everyone. He connects easily with those who are 'broken' in one way or another or who are simply different in certain ways. He will be anti-social or indifferent to the general populace.

Harry will not summon rider in the grail war.

Harry does have flaws. He underestimates wizards and that is probably a major one. He does not connect well with ordinary people. He does not like people examining him and is liable to bite back with a cutting remark. Family is a major thing for Harry. Do not try and insult them because it will be very bad for you.

Does Harry seem far more powerful than a regular first year? Hell yes. Is he going to need that power? Also hell yes! I view canon Voldemort as something like an unimaginative idiot. My Voldemort is going to show why he was so feared. He will use more than just a crucio and an avada kedavra as they are too predictable. For me Voldemort in first year should have banished Harry away, used an incarcerous spell and then either conjured or transfigured a dagger with which to kill him with. He should not have tried to throttle him when he knew that his touch was harmful to him. Canon Harry survives too much by luck for me. My Harry is going to need the skills he has to survive and I plan to give him some horrific scars and injuries throughout the story.

Too many main characters. At Hogwarts the main characters are Harry, Len and Hermione. During the Grail War they will be Harry, Len and someone else. Everyone else is not a main character. They will turn up and have major roles occasionally but they are not central to the story.

Everything I have changed about Harry will have positive and negative effects on him. It won't be like some stories where he gains all sorts of abilities to help him but each ability he gains will come at a price or it will be a double-edged sword.

[End Spoilers]

Now, Please enjoy the story.

Chapter 6 – A birthday and an Alley

It was the Sunday the 28th of July 1991 and Harry was currently being pummelled into the ground. Harry had taken to training with the enforcers in order to improve himself. For the current match he was using nothing but runes and reinforcement. Martial arts was what he was trying to improve right now. His opponent was a nineteen year old Irish woman named Bazett. She was a part of the Fraga clan and, apart from the fragarach, they where well known for their speciality in runes. Bazett was wearing a suit that had runes sewn into it and the rest of her clothing. Her gloves definitely had something sewn onto them but the combat was moving too fast for him to get a clear view of them. Bazett had fairly short hair that helped her in this situation as Harry had nothing to grab at. The only weakness as far as accessories go would have been the earrings she usually wears but she had removed them for the spar. Harry on the other hand had hair that reached the floor. For some reason he could apparently move his hair independently but he had no idea why. He suspected that Zelretch knew from that infuriating twinkle in his eye but he said no more than that he should ask the goblins. Regardless of this, the moving hair thing was a recent discovery and he had virtually no control over it making it useless, the length of his hair meant that he had to be careful of Bazett grabbing it and swinging him round like a yo-yo. He had managed to wrap her legs in it and trip her once but she'd wizened up to that and was more on her guard against such tricks.

Harry was wearing what had become his usual attire. He wore a pair of plain black canvas trousers and knee length boots, he wore a black t-shirt and fingerless gloves. All this so far was normal, it was what else he wore that was abnormal. There was the one-way blindfold keyed to his prana signature with a simple intent ward so people couldn't get him to remove it in his sleep or by a compulsion, he didn't know if a geass could bypass it but didn't want to try it. His arms where clad in black vambraces that each hid a dagger within. There was something similar on his upper thighs and a crossed pair of scabbards that held two short swords that each had a thirteen inch blade. He had another pair of daggers in his boots. Over his shirt was sectional armour carved from bone, matte black in colour and etched with more runic arrays than anything else he wore and that is saying something, his habit of stitching runic arrays on his socks and underwear had not faded yet, if it would at all.

Harry had greater natural strength than Bazett thanks to the blood adoption where he'd gained some gorgon and vampire nature. He had greater speed and reflexes too, his five senses where also better. In general he had the advantage when it came to what they had as standard but Bazett had three things going for her that Harry didn't. One was the runes that the Fraga clan had, these weren't given to those outside the clan and therefore they weren't something had access to. Bazett was also older than Harry and as such had a greater range than he did due to longer limbs. The third thing that Bazett had that Harry didn't was experience. Bazett had been going on missions for some time now and she had more time to spar against other enforcers as Harry continued with his magecraft studies. It was for these reasons that Harry was loosing so badly. If it wasn't for the advantages he had due to an inhuman nature then he would have been completely flattened a while ago. Bazett was damn good and it was rather phenomenal that an eleven year old was even standing after the half an hour of this that had been the spar thus far.

"Stop" Bazett said as she jumped back to the wall "That's enough for today. You need to work on technique mainly. Currently your small size makes it difficult to hit you but it wont last forever. You seem to favour speed over strength so I would suggest studying pressure points and developing a style that uses a rapid flurry of punches and kicks rather than grappling." With her advice given Bazett stepped out of the room.

Harry collapsed on the floor. He was sure that he was purple with bruises by now. He picked up a bottle of water that he'd brought with him and quaffed a good third of it. He stood and staggered to the door. He took a breath and composed himself before heading out into the enforcers' section of the clock tower and then into the clock tower in general. He bypassed the cafeteria and headed straight to his quarters.

xxxxx

He opened the door and a party popper went off in his face making him freeze in shock. The visitor's room had been changed around. The sofa and chairs had been pushed to the outside of the room and there where three tables covered in food in the right corner. There was a banner stretched across the room that read 'Happy Birthday' and there where streamers everywhere. It was the sight in front of him that caught his attention though. In front of him stood his friends and guardians. Stheno and Euryale where at the left then Waver and then it was Aoko and Len in the middle. On the right was Arcueid and Altrouge stood with Zelretch. Behind them all, filling a full wall herself, lay Primate Murder.

"Happy Birthday Harry!" They all shouted as one. They all had smiles on their faces. Len came forward and hugged Harry.

"Well, I hope you enjoy it, with how Hogwarts does things you need to be in your home universe on or before July 31st so we had your birthday a little early." Zelretch says as he too comes forward and gives Harry a hug. Aoko was next on what appeared to be a hug harry list.

"Enjoy it while it lasts. Being a kid doesn't last very long" Rather poignant considering she had aged herself ten years and skipped part of her childhood out of necessity.

"Having you as part of the family has allowed us so much so let us return a little of that today little brother" Stheno and Euryale came forward and hugged him next.

"Yeah Harry, Childhood is for fun!" Arc called as she pulled him into a suffocating hug that nearly killed him.

"Like you ever grew up little sister." Altrouge said as Arc put him down "May you have a pleasant and long life ahead of you my friend." Altrouge gently pulled him into a hug. She and Arcueid needled each other whenever the two met but when he was around they always remained mostly civil. Altrouge was also the one he saw the most of besides Len who was almost always with him now. She had taken their friendship very seriously and seemed to get some kind of thrill whenever she said the word.

"Looks like I'm the last in this little queue Harry," Waver stated as he wandered over "Whatever happens at this school of yours know that we are all proud of you. And with that done let's cut the cake." Harry looked at Waver for a second.

"Just a moment." he said as he knelt down before Primate Murder, and goodness knows how they'd managed to sneak her into the clock tower unnoticed, and gave her a good fuss. "Alright. Let me wash my hands and then we can get down to this little party." And so saying that is what happened.

Waver was the designated camera guy until Zelretch took it off him later and took some pictures himself. The party was fun. They tried playing twister and Arcueid and Altrouge ended up collapsing after getting knotted together, Aoko won that one and damn she was flexible. Charades was amusing, especially when Arcueid tried to impersonate the vice-director. They played for hours acting like little children and enjoying every minute of it. They got some good pictures as well, one of them was when Primate Murder had gotten cake on her nose and was trying to lick it off, another had everyone in party hats and covered in the streamers from party poppers. One picture that had Waver's eyes twinkling and a big grin on his and Zelretch's faces was one from when we'd tripped over and Harry's limbs had gotten tangled up with Arcueid's and Altrouge's. Seeing this Len thought it a good idea to come down and try to hug us all. The picture came out with the two vampire princesses with rather flushed faces.

Once all the excitement had died down it was decided that Harry should open his presents now. From Stheno and Euryale he got jewellery, a silver bracelet in the shape of a snake eating its own tail that had small rubies for eyes and a locket that held a picture of himself, Stheno and Euryale on one side and Waver with Zelretch on the other. On the locket's outside was etched 'familie in aeternum' or family forever as it would be in english. From Waver he got a book that had a compiled selection of models that where the basis for homunculi, a greater aspect of alchemy and a very complicated one. From Aoko he also got a book, this one was on the practices of native american shaman and how they used magecraft. From Arcueid he received clothes such as tailcoats and a pair of elegant boots. He could at least blend in better at Magi social functions now. From Altrouge he received a silver pocket watch, the cover read 'amicitiae sempiternae' or eternal friendship as it were. He made sure to thank them all as they where given.

Len stepped forward and took a grip on Harry's sleeve and looked him directly in the eye. Harry was a little confused until Arcueid said "Ah, I've been expecting this for a while now. With you she'd be in good care. Harry will you bond with Len as Master and Familiar?" He was surprised at this. He knew that Len couldn't bond with Arcueid but she didn't actually need to bond at all.

"I would be honoured if you'd have me Len." Len's reply was to let go of his sleeve and hug him once again. Once the hug ended she refused to let go of Harry and ended sat on the sofa in his lap.

"Well I believe that I am next. Harry, you know that I have taught you nothing on the operation of the kaleidoscope so for, the reasons are many but one of them is that it is a very confusing thing to do. The very nature of so many worlds is hard to work around and to utilize them takes even more mental discipline. I will teach you how to travel between this world and your original one. We can at least have you visit in your free weekends after all. You may also travel within a world to places that you have been before. Do not try and enter another world or somewhere you've never been before as the results can be...messy." That the Zelretch himself was saying this meant Harry would take this very seriously, Zelretch was a prankster and enjoyed sowing chaos. For him to warn against something meant it should never be ignored.

Altrouge stepped forward once again "We know about how wands are used in your home world and thought that there might be interference from your circuits so we have gotten some materials together for you. She held out a packet with several vial's in that where labelled and a box that also had a label. There where five vials, four had a hair in them and one blood. One of the hairs was Altrouge's, another was Arcueid's and the other two belonged to Stheno and Euryale. The blood was labelled as Len's. The box however was labelled as 'Forest of Einnashe' when he asked about it Altrouge said, "That contains a branch from the tree that was the centre of the forest. Hopefully you can find it useful."

xxxxx

Harry was curled up in bed that night after bonding with Len who was now sleeping next to my pillow as a cat. He was thinking on how my life had been for the past six years. How would he find his own reality? It was exciting and terrifying at the same time. He was so used to how the mage's association acted that he wondered how he would fit into the system when he went to school this fall. In the morning Zelretch was going to instruct him in how to use the kaleidoscope to travel between this dimension and his home one. Zelretch would accompany him on the first trip so he made it to the correct one. Apparently, to travel between specific worlds you needed to know how they related to each other in dimensional space. He was going to memorise the dimensional co-ordinates of two worlds. Thinking of them as co-ordinates was an abstract theory at the least but it would help him concentrate all the better which was one of the critical parts of navigating the complex sea that is the kaleidoscope. With all these thoughts Harry fell asleep.

Harry awoke the next morning to something completely new. Len was back in her human form and was cuddled up in his arms while he was in hers. She seemed to be still asleep though so Harry slowly released himself from her grasp and crept out of bed. Getting dressed quickly he wandered into the visitors room to see Zelretch carrying a camera and wearing a large grin on his face. "Ah Harry, it's a good thing I was the one to check up on you this morning. Imagine if one of the girls had seen the two of you?" Harry eyed the camera that he held. "Oh, don't worry. I have plenty of cute pictures if you wanted some." Harry just rolled his eyes.

The next two hours was spent with Zelretch explaining the concept of how, rather than a location centred on a single point, the kaleidoscope navigated worlds by how they related to each other. Zelretch had memorised how Harry's home world connected with their current one and therefore how to go back and forth along that link. He wanted to travel back and forth a couple of times with Harry opening his circuits and exposing himself to all of it and then he would meditate and after that Harry would take Zelretch and hopefully end up in his home world. If he managed to go back and forth between them a dozen times then Zelretch would allow him to visit on weekends and do so under his own power.

Len had awoken and wandered in a half hour into the lecture and was now sat next to him. Stheno and Euryale also wandered in but got on with whatever it was they where doing today. Once they'd gotten acclimatised to the modern world they had taken an occasional job posted for the Enforcers. One unexpected happening had been when Stheno had decided she wanted to be a history teacher. She was currently studying towards her goal a few years down the line. Euryale on the other hand helped out at a joke shop nearby where she could learn another few tricks to play on people.

When they did start travelling between the clock tower and Diagon Alley in his home world Harry thought he understood it on his third go but they continued to travel back and forth to a total of twelve times. When Harry started to gather his prana to do so himself something didn't feel right and he failed to do anything. He failed on the second attempt too. On the third he managed to take himself and Zelretch to Diagon Alley but accidentally brought the sofa along with them. They kept practising until Harry could reliably travel between the two locations and not bring furniture with him as he went.

Zelretch left Harry and Len in front of the Leaky Cauldron pub with enough wizarding money to last them two months as well as for his school supplies. He told them that a member of Hogwarts faculty should find him here soon or an owl would deliver a letter.

Harry entered the pub with Len on his shoulder as a cat. He got a few queer looks but was largely ignored. He approached the barman and asked "Excuse me but could I rent a room for one please?" The barman looked up and quirked an eyebrow at the strange boy in front of him. However it wasn't his place to question others and merely gave a grin that lacked a number of teeth.

"My name's Tom, a room is two galleons a night and I'll need a name for the books." He got a ledger out along with a quill and ink bottle waiting for a name to put into the empty space.

"My name is Shweinorg." Harry said. Potter would bet far too much attention and since the blood adoption he could use that name on a technicality so he wasn't lying. "Here is the payment up until the night of the thirty-first" he said handing over six of the golden coins.

"Very well Mr. Shweinorg, you have room seventeen along the corridor there." Tom said indicating a passageway of to his right. He gave harry the right key and nodded to him as he turned to serve another customer.

Harry nodded and took his luggage as he walked down the corridor, Len riding on his shoulder still. They stopped at number seventeen, the corridor had twenty rooms available and this one was only one away from the end room. He unlocked the door and walked in. Len jumped off his shoulder and onto the bed where she switched back to her human form. Harry sighed as he set his luggage to one side. He sat down next to Len on the bed and laid down with his feet dangling off the edge. It had gotten quite late what with all the practice Zelretch had him do all day. He was tired and just wanted to sleep.

xxxxx

At a castle in Scotland there was something else happening. Albus Dumbledore had gotten really worked up. When the letters had come to be delivered one of them had held a name and nothing more. It had no address on it at all and that was supposed to be impossible. There where no wards he could think of that could prevent the Hogwarts letters from reaching their intended recipient. He had been out of the castle for days now. He had gone to the Dursley's and found that the blood wards he had erected had fallen years ago. Worse than that, there was no sign of the boy-who-lived. The Dursley's didn't know what had happened to the boy and they didn't care. Legilimency provided no further answers as they honestly didn't know. The only thing that Dumbledore could think was that Harry had no set address. If he moved around too much then the magic could give no address because he didn't stay in one location long enough to get a lock on him. Dumbledore would go on to return to Hogsmeade and drink himself silly due to the failure of his plans. He stayed the night in the Hogshead pub as he didn't want to return to the castle right now. It was only when Minerva Mcgonagall came in to the office to see the headmaster that the letter was noticed. She picked it up and saw that it had been addressed. She knew that Harry had been left with those awful muggles and thought they wouldn't have told him of the wizarding world. As the letter was addressed to the Leaky Cauldron he must have somehow arrived there but without his letter he wouldn't know what supplies to get. She was the one who usually welcomed muggle-born children to their new world and thought she could easily extend the courtesy to someone raised by them, especially the child of two of her favourite students. With that she tucked the letter into her robes and left. She was supposed to go and escort one Hermione Granger to Diagon Alley today as well, she'd already received her letter but her parents wanted to accompany her and had waited until they could get away from work to join her.

Minerva found that the Grangers where all ready for her when she arrived at their home and she used a portkey to take them to an alley near to the Leaky Cauldron. Miss Granger was obviously intelligent and she seemed destined for Filius's house unless she displayed some other qualities and she could acquire her for her own house. She turned to the Grangers "Diagon Alley has its entrance in a pub on Charing cross that is called the Leaky Cauldron. Muggles, that is non-magical people can't see it and must be led in by one who can. Now I have one more letter to deliver to someone who is staying here who will be a classmate of yours Miss Granger. Allow me to collect him then we can be off into Diagon Alley."

With that said she turned and walked into the Leaky Cauldron. Making sure that the Grangers followed her she headed to Tom, the barman who looked at her company "Escorting another muggle-born professor?" He asked.

"That and delivering a letter to one more, He's currently in room seventeen apparently." She replied. She expected Tom to instantly start going on about Harry Potter. She'd omitted the name in case anyone had heard her and started making a fuss. She did not expect the answer she got.

"The strange looking boy in the blindfold? The one with a cat? He's an odd one I'll give you. I can't place his accent though. He sounds like he's from all over. Come with me Professor and we'll go see him. He hasn't left his room yet." Tom led her down a corridor and the Grangers trailed behind. They stopped before the second door from the end on the left. A brass number seventeen was screwed to the door. Tom knocked and they waited while they heard some shuffling from behind the door mixed with the rustle of pages. The door opened and Mcgonagall got her first look at Harry Potter in ten years. She didn't see what she expected to see.

The boy in front of her was of about average height and that was pretty much all that met her expectations. His skin was so pale that he could be mistaken for a ghost. His hair fell to the floor and it wasn't the mess that James Potter's hair had been but was almost ruler straight. There was black in his hair like expected but it was liberally streaked with purple. His clothes consisted of muggle jeans, a t-shirt and a pair of boots but that was overlaid by what looked like armour of some kind. He wore vambraces on his forearms and fingerless gloves on his hands. He might have Lily's eyes as he was supposed to but she couldn't see past the purple blindfold that covered them. Her eyes flickered to his forehead and instead of the famous lightning bolt scar he instead bore a strange symbol she didn't recognise. It looked like a 2 but there was an x in its tail. Was this really Lily and James' child? He looked nothing like the stories illustrated him. She knew of course that the stories where fiction, she had been there the night he was left with them. She would however expect his physical appearance to at least be in line with what had been depicted. "Mr. Potter?" She had to ask, she had to be sure she had the right person.

"Yes. Can I help you?" Oh merlin! She had seen fangs in his mouth. What on earth had happened to the poor boy? She would find out later. Right now she needed to be professional.

"I am Professor Mcgonagall of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry." He seemed to have been expecting that. "I have your letter of admittance here. I am currently escorting Miss Granger here and her parents through Diagon Alley for the first time if you would like to accompany us." His expression didn't hold the expression she had expected instead he seemed to have been waiting here specifically for the letter. That was ridiculous. The first time a muggle-born was to know about the magical world was when they received their letter and Harry was as good as a muggle-born if he'd been brought up by the Dursley's.

"May I see the letter please?" Well, at least he was polite. She handed the letter over and Harry read the short acceptance letter before looking over the necessary equipment. He stopped and looked up at professor Mcgonagall. "Robes, really?" he asked, She had been asked this question by muggle-borns before and could answer easily enough.

"It is traditional. Robes must be worn for lessons and feasts. You can dress as you wish any other time." He seemed resigned to that. She had another look over his attire while he read the book list and only now saw the hilt of a blade fixed to the small of his back. She wondered why he seemed to think carrying a weapon like that was normal. He finished the list and nodded.

Harry turned into the room and called out "You coming Len?" Minerva wondered who this Len was until she saw the cat that found itself a comfortable seat on Harry's shoulder. The cat wore a ridiculously large bow around its neck and a pair of fluffy pompoms hung off it. Minerva flinched a little as she made eye contact. The cat had red eyes that seemed to hold an intelligence no feline should possess. Composing herself Minerva stepped back and let Harry out of the room which he locked behind him. They made their way out of the pub and into the back yard. Turning to her entourage she explained about how the alley opened up.

"Remember this for when you have your wands. Three up and two across. This is the brick you tap with your wand." And so saying she did just that. She looked back expecting the looks of awe on their faces, it was one of her favourite parts about being the guide for muggle-borns, they all reacted the same. She found what she expected on three faces but once again Harry Potter didn't react at all. She decided to ask "Mr. Potter, this is your first time in the wizarding world correct?"

He looked at her and nodded "I only arrived at the Leaky Cauldron yesterday and pretty much went straight to sleep. This is the first time I've ever set foot in Diagon Alley." Well, that at least was in order. Perhaps he was just difficult to surprise.

"Well, our first stop is to be Gringotts, the bank of the wizarding world. It is run by goblins. They are excellent business men but they are a species that only the suicidal try and cheat." She lead them to the far end of the alley where a snow white building made of pristine marble stood. The bushy-haired Miss Granger was firing off a million questions a minute. Come to think of it she had been doing so since he'd opened the door to the group and he'd simply tuned her out and focused on this professor.

xxxxx

Once at the bank Harry nodded to the two guards outside and received raised eyebrows for it but they inclined their heads in return. Walking into the bank caused the girl to finally go silent. Perhaps she was in awe. Harry on the other hand had seen it and dismissed it as unimportant. Harry preferred function over form and was not easily awed by such things. Professor Mcgonagall directed them to separate desks. "Harry has his trust fund to withdraw coin from while you shall have to convert muggle money for wizarding currency." She approached a goblin teller alongside Harry. "Excuse me but Mr. Potter here needs to make a withdrawal from his vault." Harry however had other business to address.

"Excuse me master Goblin but I have noticed an unusual ability manifest recently and Zelretch informed me that you may be able to shed some light on it" Professor Mcgonagall looked at him and ran the name Zelretch through her mind. She did not recognise it and it was a very distinctive name. It was becoming clearer and clearer that someone had interfered in Mr. Potter's life since he had been left on the Dursley's doorstep. It only remained to be seen if this was for good or ill.

The goblin gave an uncharacteristic grin, though filled with sharp teeth as it was Mcgonagall found it perhaps more disturbing than the norm. "That name you gave proves to me at least that you definitely are Mr. Potter. I can call for RipSnout as I am sure he is eager to speak with you himself." Mcgonagall wondered what was going on as Harry nodded his assent. When the teller called for a goblin to lead them to this RipSnout she went to follow but the teller called out "and where are you going madame?" The teller called to her.

"I am the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts and while I am here I am responsible for him and the rest of this group which means Miss Granger and her parents." She was affronted. This goblin was questioning her on the safety of a student!

"Nevertheless an abilities test is to be private unless the one requesting it wishes otherwise," Turning to Harry the goblin asked "Do you wish Madame Mcgonagall to be present for this?" Harry thought about it for a second.

"This ability test only shows the abilities you can recognise correct?" He asked

The goblin nodded "Just your name and the abilities that you have will be displayed"

Harry looked at professor Mcgonagall and then shrugged. "I don't mind overly much. She can watch if she wants"

The two of them then followed the goblin, GripHook Harry believed the name was, further into Gringotts proper. They stopped at a blank door that looked just like any other they had passed and GripHook knocked on it.

"Enter," came a voice from within. A goblin was sat at a desk surrounded by shelf after shelf of paperwork. "Deputy Headmistress, what may I do for you today?" he asked.

"It is not for me but young Mr. Potter here. He wishes to have an ability check done." She stated succinctly. She noticed that at Harry's name the goblin's gaze switched to the boy and the goblin adopted a knowing look that irritated her no end. Was someone going to tell her what had happened in Harry's life to make him like this. A seemingly random goblin knew what she did not.

"You certainly have a little of his presence even hidden amongst the rest if it as it is." The goblin stated

"Thank you," Harry replied "I would hope to avoid acquiring some of his more eccentric traits but that remains to be seen." Harry stepped up to the desk "May I please have an evaluation of whatever abilities I may possess?"

"Certainly, though judging from what that old man has said I can already guess what the one you're wondering about is." RipSnout reached for something under his desk and brought out a piece of parchment. There was a small but intricate circle drawn on the bottom left whereas the rest of it was blank. "Just seven drops of blood in that circle there will do."

Harry projected a knife, it was a little more solid than a regular projection usually was. He had been practising the seven steps he had overheard from Shirou and found that the quality of his gradation air had increased but whatever he projected had a habit of coming out a bright crimson red for some reason, perhaps his concentration was off. Minerva started at this display of wandless conjuration though she was unsettled that the blade came out the colour of fresh blood, what else was Harry capable of? Harry slit his hand and let seven drops of blood fall onto the parchment before allowing the dagger to fade and wiping his hand with a cloth proffered by the goblin. He wasn't worried, he healed faster than most, it would stop bleeding soon.

RipSnout took the parchment an muttered something that Harry didn't understand but guessed to be Gobbledegook, the goblin language. He watched as ink flowed across the parchment and read:

_Name: Harry James Potter_

_Date of birth 31 / 07 / 1980_

_Date of testing 30 / 07 / 1991_

_Abilities:_

_ Parseltongue – Complete_

_ Able to speak to all serpents at will._

_ Metamorphmagus – Minor_

_ Capable of Moving hair as if a muscle, capable of altering length and density of finger nails._

_ Animagus – Potential_

_ Capable of becoming an animagus. Form currently unknown._

_ Legilimency – Potential_

_ Capable of learning legilimency._

_ Occlumency – Partial_

_ Capable of knowing when under legilimency, nearly achieved mindscape. Highly organised mind._

_ Familiar – Acquired_

_ A bond with a familiar is present._

Harry looked down at the list "Judging from what is written for occlumency I am guessing that it and legilimency has something to do with reading the mind." He looked up at RipSnout as Mcgonagall stared at the parchment Harry held.

"Yes, most would believe that you can't be put under legilimency without eye contact but there are those who have mastered it and only require to have their target within their field of vision. It would be safest for you if you meditated and tried to find your mindscape and then defended it." RipSnout commented.

"Thank you for the advice I'll be sure to follow it. I am also here today to access some sort of vault that I possess, do you know anything about that?" Harry turned the conversation towards the reason Mcgonagall had brought him here.

"Ah yes. After what happened six years ago I took the initiative of changing the locks on the vaults as it was clear you did not possess a key. The current key is in your file, give me a moment to retrieve it." RipSnout then went off into the rows of shelves.

"You're a parselmouth?" A whisper from behind him came, he turned to see the professor clutching the parchment and seemed to be in disbelief. Harry had not forgotten the stigma attached to the ability but hoped that he could have expected more decorum from a professor at least.

"Yes, I can talk to snakes. I have been doing so for six years and they sometimes seem more intelligent than humans. Their conversations do tend towards complaining about the cold on occasion, they also complain about stupid two-legs a lot but it is most certainly interesting." This seemed to be a little much for her and she collapsed in the chair in front of her "However, if you are one of those prejudiced idiots that believes that speaking another language is evil then please keep it to yourself. I'd rather you didn't shout any of my talents from the rooftops thank you very much." That seemed to pull her together.

"Very well Harry, your ability test will remain as private as you wish it to be. My apologies for my reaction but parseltongue has a rather unpleasant history." She stated. Harry was going to burst that bubble though.

"Saint George was a parselmouth as was Paracelsus was too. Neither of them are considered dark but most seem to forget they were parselmouths." Minerva just twitched before nodding. RipSnout soon returned with a golden key.

"Here it is," RipSnout said "here is your vault key" Harry had a sudden idea. He took the key and analysed it. He found that it was more than mere metalwork. He committed the entire thing to memory to the best of his ability before projecting a copy of it. He might not be able to project anything truly complex but he thought he could replicate the magic in this key.

"Does this hold the same properties as the original. I know that the key is more than just metalwork but I don't know if my copy is exact enough." He held out his projection for RipSnout's inspection. The goblin examined it for several sections before looking surprised.

"This key is fully capable of opening your vault. May I ask as to the reason you would make a duplicate?" Harry grinned in response. He allowed the prana in the duplicate to disperse and the goblin was startled when the key in his hand shattered into nothingness. He looked at the original in Harry's hand before grinning "an extra level of security I see. Do you wish me to melt the original down?"

Handing the key back to the goblin he smiled "If you would be so kind." The goblin took the key muttering about insane wizards and their ideas before he gestured towards the door. There was nothing else to do so Harry and professor Mcgonagall left the room. Outside they found GripHook waiting for them "Master goblin please could you take me to my vault. I need to make a withdrawal."

The wild cart ride that ensured managed to take Minerva's attention of what had happened and focus on what was currently happening. She managed to tell him about how currency was divided in the magical world. There where seventeen silver sickles to a galleon and twenty nine knuts to a sickle. This meant there was four hundred and ninety three knuts in a galleon. Harry collected two hundred galleons. Zelretch had left him with two hundred for school supplies too but Mcgonagall didn't know that. Harry was planning on getting some extra things to take home with him.

xxxxx

Once back on the surface they met up with the Grangers again as they stepped back out into the alley. Mcgonagall decided to take the lead again. "First stop should be for robes. Madam Malkin's it is." They approached said shop and saw a variety of mannequins dressed in robes in the window. Frankly Harry thought they looked like dresses, even the clock tower magi didn't dress in robes any longer. As they went in Mcgonagall addressed the woman stood next to the till "two for Hogwarts please Selena," The woman, who was apparently called Selena, indicated for an assistant to take Hermione and then stood Harry on a stool next to her. He found he could not ignore the girl's questions any longer as they where now being directed right at him.

"I was so surprised when I got my letter, where you? Have you lived in the magical world? Do you know anything about Hogwarts? Mummy and Daddy have been trying to work out what all my accidents meant for years, to think it was magic. Did you do much accidental magic as a child? Why is your hair two colours? Is it dyed? Why are you wearing a blindfold? Are you blind?" Harry had had enough and decided to interrupt her flow.

"I was expecting the letter, I did not live in the wizarding world, I know no more about Hogwarts than you, No I didn't do much accidental magic, My hair is not dyed, it's natural, I am not blind and can see through the blindfold, it is there for another reason that I will not tell you. Now please be quiet, you're giving me a headache." That shut the girl up, or at least he thought it would.

"There's no need to be rude! I was only asking a few questions." Harry looked at her for a moment. She honestly seemed to believe that she was right and he wrong, as if demanding personal information on a stranger was completely normal.

"Miss Granger, I am not being rude. You are questioning my personal history without asking for permission. We don't know each other and I have asked for none of your personal information. I am happy to speak with you but please don't go nosing in topics you have no right to ask about." She looked abashed at that and Harry could feel the looks that her parents and Mcgonagall where sending him. They probably thought that he was being secretive and Mcgonagall had shown that she wanted to know what his past had been like. He would not comply with them. His past was his own. He would not hide his magecraft but nor would he flaunt it and if someone demanded an explanation of how it worked then he would not answer them. He had no obligation to pander to there wishes.

It was soon after that the two of them where done with their robes and had them packed up. They headed off to get their trunks next so they had something to put their current and future purchases in. Hermione and her parents instantly went for a standard trunk. Harry however was likely to bring a few things from home and asked to look at other models.

"Why would you need more space Mr. Potter?" the Professor asked him.

"I am likely to bring a number of things from home. There is also the fact that I wish to keep things like potion ingredients separate from both clothes and books just in case. I think four compartments sounds about right. One for clothing, one for school books, one for my own items and another for potions ingredients and other reactants." Mcgonagall had to concede that that sounded at least sensible. The proprietor of the shop however decided to intervene.

"We don't have any four compartment trunks. The closest we do have is a five compartment trunk but each of its compartments are expanded and it is priced at thirty galleons." The regular trunks where priced at ten galleons and Harry had no issue with five compartments. It meant he could keep his own books separated from whatever else he decided to bring. He purchased the trunk and they left.

They then purchased their brass scales and crystal phials from an apothecary where they also bought their basic first year supplies. Harry decided to get a rack for the phials so they where easier to organise and find. They bought both their cauldron and telescope from a shop that sold magical equipment. Mcgonagall decided to give everyone a choice for the last two places they had to go "All that is left is their texts and their wand. Which do you wish to purchase first?"

Hermione's parents looked at one another before saying "Wand, if we get Hermione into a bookshop then we'll need a crowbar to get her out of there." Hermione pouted at this but didn't deny it. They then headed off to a shop that was narrow and shabby The lettering over the door was peeling off and in the window lay a single wand on a faded purple cushion. As they made their way in Harry read the name 'Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC'. It certainly looks like it's been here since then thought Harry. The five of them stepped into the shop and Harry was instantly on edge. There was a heavy presence of prana here. It seemed to be coming from those boxes on the shelves primarily but there was one that was behind them.

Harry twirled around with a projected dagger in each hand. He stopped when he found he had the blades resting on the throat of a rather odd looking man with silvery eyes. Len on his shoulder hissed at the man for sneaking up on them.

"Well, I've never had a customer react like that before, My name is Ollivander, I own this shop. May I have the pleasure of knowing who currently has me at knife point?" Well he didn't seem particularly phased by the daggers at his throat, more along the lines of amused than frightened. Harry let the blades fade as he straightened.

"Harry Potter." He said inclining his head. Ollivander's eyes flicked up to his forehead but he didn't react to seeing the symbol that was present instead of the supposedly famous scar.

"Well Mr. Potter, I have been expecting you though you certainly seem to have demolished my expectations and I feel you shall do so to a number of others expectations too." He then caught sight of the other four in the shop "Ah Minerva, mahogany, eleven and a half inches with a dragon heart-string core. A wand suited to advanced transfiguration. Given your post as a professor of just such a subject I suppose it is most fitting. You are escorting a muggle-born and Mr. Potter for their school supplies I am guessing." At her nod he shifted his gaze to Hermione "Very well. Let us try and find you a wand first miss. It is however the wand that chooses the wizard, or witch in this case. In this shop I use Dragon heart-string, Unicorn tail hair and occasionally a phoenix tail feather for a core. We use a wide variety of woods and they come in a variety of lengths too" By this point he was dashing up and down the shelves pulling boxes out seemingly at random. "Well, let's see what results we get."

He handed her a wand "Cherry with unicorn hair, ten inches. Well go on and give it a wave." She did and Harry had to dodge out of the way as three of the boxes jumped of the shelf and nearly smacked him in the head. "Hmm, right length for focus or near enough but you're too stubborn for unicorn hair and too picky for cherry. Try this one, eleven inches long oak with phoenix feather." Again she waved her wand and Harry had to dodge once again as another wand box aimed for him. "hmm, closer to eleven inches than ten, oak is too firm and not the right temperament for phoenix feather either. Ah! I know!" He was off again. He returned with a box he had taken from the far left of the bottom shelf. " Ten and three quarter inches, vine wood with a dragon heart-string core." He handed it reverentially to Hermione and when she grasped it she gasped. Harry too was impressed. From what his senses could tell him she had bonded with the wand almost like a familiar. It was rather curious. She paid seven galleons for her wand and then Mr. Ollivander turned to Harry.

"And now for you young man. For those with magical parents there is often a similarity in their wands. Your mother possessed a ten and a quarter inch wand of willow, swishy and good for charms. Your father however had a mahogany wand, eleven inches long. It was pliable and powerful, a good wand for transfiguration which I'm sure your professor can expand upon." He looked Harry up and down "Though I have a feeling that you are going to defy expectations let us see what wands like you shall we?"

And so it started. He was handed wand after wand after wand. Sometimes things moved, sometimes things caught fire and there was even an explosion in there. "Perhaps, yes, perhaps this wand will accept you." Mr Ollivander said a long time later "Holly and phoenix feather, a rather unusual combination. A nice and supple wand." He handed Harry the wand and Harry raised it above his head before sweeping it through the air. Nothing happened. There was no explosion or movement or sparks or anything. This wand was completely inert. Ollivander looked disappointed for some reason. "Well Mr. Potter, you have tried every wand in my shop. Usually in this case I would craft a wand for you but you haven't had a single positive response from any of the materials. Yew might work for you in a pinch, Phoenix feather doesn't seem to match your temperament, you have patience but it is not a natural part of you so unicorn hair is out. The only core I use that could give you any results is dragon heart-string and even that seems to reject you."

Harry reached into his coat and pulled out several vials and a box "Do any of these react to me?" He asked. Ollivander's eyes lit up as he leaned forwards. He held each vial in his hands, his eyes seemed to be almost glowing.

"Yes, these materials are all very highly attuned to you, may I ask what they are?" Harry thought about it for a minute then decided to tell him. If his wand had any specialisation like the others then it was best to know early.

"The two blonde hairs are vampiric, the two purple ones are gorgon, the blood is from a succubus and the wood is from a blood-sucking tree that fed on a dead vampire's body. All except the wood is freely given." The rest of the room stared at him.

"Freely given? In that case the wand will be even more potent than it would otherwise be. Yes, I think I can make a wand from these materials. Such a wand would have a good balance to it. It would suit someone who viewed both light and dark as the same. This wand will excel at healing magic but will also find the dark arts to be within its grasp. Return tomorrow morning for your wand and it shall be yours. Your focus length seems to be eleven inches so that will be how long your wand is." Harry nodded in acceptance as the group of five left the shop. Hermione seemed nervous about something but he found out before they arrived at Flourish and Blotts, the bookshop.

"Can I... can I ask a question Harry?" Well this was an improvement. Harry turned his head towards her before replying.

"You just did but by all means ask another. If it isn't too personal I will probably answer." He had a feeling he knew what this question would be about and if so he would ask a question of his own in return.

"What do you think about the dark arts?" Well that certainly got the attention of the adults, all three where now focusing on him rather intently.

"What do I think? I believe that magic is magic. The purpose of the magic determines whether it is benign or malevolent to me and not a label. For example a curse that boils a liquid. You could use it to make a cup of tea or boil the blood in someone's veins. Is that a light or dark spell? Another is the killing curse. It can be used against an innocent or it could be used against a serial killer. Is it wrong to end the life of a killer? Personally I think very little magic is truly dark. Torture for one, anything that requires the death of an innocent another. If you are on about magic that kills then my answer depends on the target. If an innocent is killed then that is reprehensible however if the one being killed has killed themselves and in cold blood at that then, for me, they deserve no less. Does that answer your question?" It hadn't quite been the question he thought she'd ask but it would show his views on it none the less. It was Mcgonagall who asked the next question.

"So you advocate murder do you?" Now that got on his nerves. To equate killing to murder was wrong to him. The two where wholly separate. You did not murder in self-defence and there are some who feel no remorse for the deaths they cause in the pursuit of their goals. Harry's voice turned decidedly cold as he replied.

"No _Professor_," He put a fair amount of disdain on her title "I do not advocate murder. I do however support the death penalty when a crime serious enough has been committed. If someone is killed in self-defence then that is also not murder. Murder is when someone willingly and knowingly takes the life of another without significant reason. If killing someone that has killed prevents them from killing again then do not expect me to spare them for your conscience." The Grangers seemed to accept that, Mcgonagall didn't and she kept shooting him looks when she thought he couldn't see her doing so. Hermione seemed to be looking between him and the professor. She looked torn. She glanced at her parents and seemed to gather something from that. They then managed to get to the book shop without further conversation.

Inside the bookshop Harry looked down at his book list. He already had most of them from when Zelretch made his trips between worlds. He only needed Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. He soon had them bought and stored in his trunk. He began wandering the shelves in search of anything interesting he didn't already possess. He managed to find a few books on Occlumency and Legilimency, two of the abilities he possessed, he'd also found three books on animagi and was looking for anything on his metamorph ability. He found nothing on that and went to purchase the books he had.

It was when passing a brightly coloured display that he found Hermione. She had her nose buried in a book called Harry Potter and the Dark Wizard Alliance. She looked up at him and he swore he could see stars in her eyes. "Did you really take on a horde of evil wizards and their allies? Did you really command a dragon to knock their headquarters over? Did you really out-duel their inner circle all at once?" He had to cut her off there. She had drawn her parents and Mcgonagall's attention to her and if she didn't stop she would gain more.

"Miss Granger, Hermione, You just saw me enter Ollivander's shop today without a wand. That book was first printed nine years ago, I would have been two years old at the time. They are all fiction. Unfortunately, due to wizarding law, my name and image is considered national property. They can write as many stories about me as they want and I will never see a penny of it. I have had an unusual childhood and yes I have fought and killed before but you will not find any of my so called adventures in a book. A fight is not this pretty thing the tales make it out to be. It is bloody, exhausting and ugly. It is not heroic or inspiring. No one would paint a picture of a real battlefield, they are only calm when the crows are picking the bodies clean." He would never forget what happened. Harry was ten at the time and wanted to accompany Stheno and Euryale on one of their enforcer missions that they sometimes did. It was a simple one, they where supposed to retrieve something from a crypt in Romania, an object from a past age though not a particularly valuable one. The one who posted it didn't have much spare time and decided that this was the best option. The retrieval had gone as planned and they decided to stop in a nearby town to sample the local cuisine. Thanks to the language lozenges from years ago they had no trouble with the language. What was a problem was that a dead apostle had decided to make a claim in this town. Whether he was doing so to play on the fear factor of the Dracula legend or something else Harry never found out. The town had been turned to ghouls. They had been surrounded when walking down the main street and had to fight our way out. He shall never forget the stink of rotten corpses nor would he soon forget when it was done. Stheno had gone to find their master, Euryale and he destroyed whatever ghouls we could. When it was over the carrion birds came. He remember one of them pulling the eye from a decaying face and it popping in the bird's beak. Needless to say Harry lost his appetite along with the contents of his stomach. All three of them left that place in silence.

"You mean that they aren't true?" Hermione looked at him in disbelief. The wizarding world had weird laws, unless something could be proven false within a year of its publication then it would never be forced to bear the mark labelling it fiction. As Harry had been with the Dursley's at the time not to mention being two years old he could not refute it. He had no magical relatives related closely enough to challenge it either and so it was not labelled fiction. He explained as such to Hermione before continuing.

"All books are written by people. People are flawed and will, either consciously or not, show their bias. There is also new developments to consider. People once believed the earth flat and that was taken as true. New things are always being discovered that disprove what was considered true before. The best teacher is experience. Books can point you in the right direction but don't rely on them alone." She seemed to be having an internal fight. It seemed that she found it hard to believe that books would lie.

"Okay, I guess I can agree with you as far as these books go but what about history books and science books?" She seemed to want to fight him on this but it was much better to how she acted earlier.

"History is written by the victors, You will find that any accounts from those who lost will differ from the official a great deal. The winners want to be seen as right and as they now control what is written then that is what the history will say. As far as science books go see if they back it up with evidence and sources. If there is repeatable evidence then there is likely a correlation between them. That does not mean cause and effect because sometimes they are both related to another variable. That is as exact as you are likely to get in a book." There, hopefully that will satisfy her. She thinks a moment before nodding reluctantly. It seems that had left its effect on her. She moved slower and seemed more thoughtful for the rest of the time in the shop.

They left some time later. Hermione had bought a number of extra books on the available subjects and a few others as well. Harry decided to also buy a copy of Hogwarts: A History. It would be good to know about where he was to spend his time until Christmas break. It was when they where in the Leaky Cauldron after Mcgonagall had explained how to get on the platform at King's Cross and the Grangers ready to return home by portkey with Mcgonagall before she apparated away. Hermione turned to me and looked me up and down before speaking "I've been thinking and I'm sorry for how I've been acting today. I've been rather rude and demanding. I hope you can accept my apology and maybe we can be friends?" Friends huh? She wasn't so bad when she calmed down. Harry supposed there where far worse people he could get to know. Mcgonagall was talking to the Grangers. Harry looked at Hermione.

"If you can keep this calm more often then I am sure we could be wonderful friends." Harry started, then he decided to go the whole nine yards and took a deep bow as he kissed the back of her hand, Len somehow kept her balance on his shoulder. Hermione went a lovely shade of red. "I am delighted to make your acquaintance. My name is Harry Potter but if you wish you may call me Harry. I hope that I could meet you on the express. I intend to be there by half-past ten if you wish to know. I will await you on the platform." There was a slight giggle from Hermione which got her parents attention. Her mother seemed to be smirking and her father had raised an eyebrow, Mcgonagall seemed to mutter the words 'worse than his father' or something like that.

"I will see you then good sir" Her eyes seemed to have a sparkle in them as she pretended to curtsy in her jeans. She left with her parents and Mcgonagall then. Harry was left to drag his trunk along wondering how normal wizards did this without developing bulging muscles, that was until Tom the barman offered to put a feather-light charm on it much to Harry's gratitude. He then dragged it down the corridor with much more ease and entered his room. Len once again jumped onto his bed before switching back to her human form. Harry left his trunk on the floor and collapsed next to Len. It had been a long day and the two of them went to sleep in each others arms on top of the bed and still fully dressed.

xxxxx

Mcgonagall had apparated to outside the Hogwarts gates and walked into the castle. She headed to the staffroom. Now that the last of the muggle-borns had been seen to there was to be a staff meeting before the year began. They had a month to sort out any issues that arose and then the students would arrive. She was the last one in and took a seat next to Filius Flitwick, the charms teacher and head of Ravenclaw house.

"Ah Minerva," Dumbledore said "I take it that all muggle-borns have now collected their supplies?"

"Yes Albus, I also managed to pick up Mr. Potter. It seems he had yet to receive his letter and it was on my way." she replied.

"Precious Potter. Already making a fuss of himself just like his father. He seems to have started early. No doubt Minerva already loves him." Severus Snape, the potions professor and head of Slytherin house commented.

"I don't know about that," She replied "He has a rather harsh outlook and he seems to keep to himself. As for being like his father I wouldn't have known it unless the letter had led me there" Everyone looked at her when she said this. It was well known that as a baby harry had the same messy black hair his father had and his mother's eyes. He was expected to resemble James a great deal if rumours where to be believed.

"Really Minerva?" Albus said "Why would you not recognise Harry?" She snorted at this.

"For one his hair is now streaked through with purple and it is neither muggle dye nor a colour changing charm. It is also straight and reaches the floor. I couldn't tell you about his eyes as he wore a blindfold. He seems able to see through it and why he wears it I don't know. His skin is so pale you would think him a ghost. In fact there are probably some ghosts here that have more colour in them. He also wears some form of armour and has a pair of blades sheathed at his back. Also, he can't be a vampire because he was out in sunlight but he has honest to goodness fangs in his mouth!" she exclaimed "That cat of his is odd too. A black cat that has a large bow tied around its neck with two pompoms dangling from it. It has red eyes and spent the entire day perched on the boy's shoulder."

That wasn't right. By all of the Harry Potter books he was a little shorter than average with messy black hair and bright green eyes behind a pair of glasses. He was supposed to look like his father with his mother's eyes. This was certainly odd.

Albus decided to ask a question "I thought you said he was on your way but as I understand it the muggle-born you escorted today lives nowhere near Surrey." This was bad. He already knew that harry hadn't been with his relatives but he didn't know where he had been.

"He was at a room in the Leaky Cauldron. He says he hasn't lived in the magical world but seemed completely unsurprised by any of it. There was a goblin in Gringotts that mentioned something that happened six years ago and a name, Zelretch, but what that thing was I don't know and I don't recognise that name from anywhere." Mcgonagall answered.

"He's probably basking in his fame and going where he would be most admired" This once again from Snape.

"No, According to Tom he's kept mostly to his room and used the name Shweinorg for the register. He seemed to detest those children's books written about his supposed adventures." Mcgonagall paused "What has me concerned is the his outlook." Albus sat up. Harry must be the beacon of the light and therefore must understand that all life is precious and anyone can be redeemed.

She still couldn't believe what she was going to say next "He doesn't see a difference between regular magic and dark magic. He says it's the intent behind the spell and not whether it's dark or not that matters. He also sees no problem with killing in the right circumstances."

Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up and his were not alone. Only Snape, Flitwick and Babbling seemed unaffected.

It was Snape who asked "Oh? So you don't think he's going to be your Gryffindor golden boy do you? Where do you see him then?" this was intriguing. A Potter that wasn't Dumbledore's stooge? one that walked a path separate from the narrowly defined light? On top of that he wouldn't be a visual reminder of that bully and braggart from his own school days. He would reserve judgement for now.

"He'll either end up in Ravenclaw or Slytherin. He seems smart enough. He did purchase a number of extra books from Flourish and Blotts and is well spoken. He also has a sharp and biting retort on the tip of his tongue at all times. He has enough cunning to divert attention away from himself too. That is where I say he'll go" Mcgonagall replied.

"Excuse me Minerva but I swore that I heard you tell me that young harry was fine with killing. Please tell me I'm wrong."

Dumbledore was disturbed. If people where dead they couldn't repent for their mistakes. If they where just shown leniency and what the light had to offer then they would see that they where wrong and would be welcomed into the fold with Albus Dumbledore as their Shepard. He knew what was best and could lead them into the future so much more easily if they would just listen to him.

"No Albus, you heard me right. Unless I mistook something else he said then he already knows what it's like to take a life" He couldn't believe it. Harry was to be the figurehead of the light. He couldn't allow him to be tainted and marred in such a way. He couldn't put the boy out there like this with such a personality defect. It would scar the light sides reputation! That reminded him.

"You made no mention of his scar Minerva. Has that healed at all over the years?" He knew it wouldn't. That scar showed that Harry was a Horcrux and had to die before Voldemort could truly cease to exist.

Another surprise was on the way as Minerva shook her head "It's gone. He has no scar but he does have some strange symbol on his forehead. It could be a rune. It looks like a 2 with a cross at the end. I wouldn't know."

Babbling shook her head "It doesn't sound like any rune I know of. I would have to see it to be certain but I can't think of any rune that looks like that."

The staff meeting went on longer but no more came of it. It would be a long night for Albus Dumbledore. To think, his plans had already gone so wrong. Harry was not the easily malleable boy he would have been had he remained with the Dursley's. Someone had interfered and Dumbledore did not like people messing with his plans. He did not recognise either the name Zelretch nor the name Shweinorg. The latter sounded German but the former sounded made up. It would be a long time before he got to sleep.


	7. Trains and Hats

AN: A few reviews and PMs have been asking me about pairings. To be honest with you I don't know. This story is being written off the top of my head and I'm letting it flow its own way. If one pairing becomes blatantly obvious then that will be the pairing. There won't be any truly blossoming romance until at least third year though so it could go anywhere. I also have this weird idea in my head of Dobby in the grail war. I might write an omake for it. If anyone else has a relevant omake for the story then send it over and I'll add it giving credit to the creator. I also feel evil for how I ended the chapter. Let's see who can finish the sentence and which two traits I'm referring to.

[SPOILERS]

You've probably read and realised by now that Harry seems to be tracing some things. Harry over heard Shirou muttering the seven steps to tracing before and has used them to improve his own projections. Harry however can't trace noble phantasms or the like. He can only trace what he understands. Right now, and probably for the rest of he story, that means runes and gorgon venom. He had a number of weapons crafted and the originals are stored in the fourth compartmrnt of his trunk. Note that all of them are etched with runes and coated in gorgon venom. There are runes each for fire (Kauno) and electricity (Thurisaz) etched just above the hilt or handle. When prana is chanelled into one of these runes then the blade will either burst into flames or crackle with electricity. The weapons he has are:

Daggers, Short sword/Gladius, English broadsword, Flamberge, Claymore and a broad basket-hilted sword for regular blades.

A javelin, lance and halberd for polearms

An English longbow, bodkin arrow and broadhead arrows for bows

A kusarigama (hand scythe with a chain and weigth attached), a naginata, kunai and shurikens for foreign weapons

and several lengths and weights of chains.

[END SPOILERS]

Now enjoy the chapter

Chapter 7 – Trains and Hats

Harry decided that, after picking his wand up, he would return home until September first. He asked Tom the barman for directions to King's Cross and after thanking him head out into the alley. It was rather early and most shops where just opening up. He preferred it that way. He'd left Len asleep in bed with a note on the side table. Hopefully he would return before she awoke.

xxxxx

He wandered down the street looking at all the different shops before stopping in front of one in particular. Quality Quidditch Supplies. Harry wondered what it would be like to zoom around the clock tower on one of these. Back home it was kind of traditional for female magi to research into broom flight and Touko Aozaki currently held the best method. Patented as 'Touko Travel' her method involved planting a magical anchor to a location and allowing the magus to be pulled towards the location. It was a type of magecraft that was usually taken by females but Harry had never cared for how people saw him. There was one in the window called a Nimbus two thousand and it was available for two hundred and fifty galleons. That was about one thousand, two hundred and fifty pounds but he had money to spend. His trust vault was supposed to last until he was seventeen. The major things he bought every year was books and his Hogwarts tuition had been paid in full soon after he was born as was traditional in the wizarding world. It was all the tuition that had been a major part of why the Weasley family had gone broke according to rumours in the Leaky Cauldron. It was being discussed because their sixth male child was to start this year and the only other family left to go was his younger sister. From what he'd heard tuition was cheaper for females as they where expected to go to Hogwarts to find a spouse. Very few women in the wizarding world had a career. Harry found all this a bit sexist. Most of the females he knew where capable of large scale destruction. He'd gotten off track. Whether to buy a broom or not was the question. He decided that he would. He entered the shop and started looking around at everything.

There where magazines available for owl order with titles such as 'Which Broomstick?' and 'Flying Free' lined up behind the till. There where several models of broomstick available. Everything from a First Dart, a broom for children that went no higher than his waist to a Cleansweep Five, the average kid of the broom world to the comet two sixty which was currently only outstripped by the Nimbus two thousand. There was a range of care kits available that ranged from simply containing polish to having everything from twig clippers to engraving tools so you could carve your name into it. Harry decided to go for the Nimbus. If he was going to get one then he was going to get the best. He also picked up a complete care kit and a copy of Quidditch through the ages. The last one was chosen as quidditch matches where constantly talked about in the Leaky Cauldron and he hadn't a clue what any of them where talking about.

He left Quality Quidditch supplies with his broom over his shoulder, his care kit and book in a bag in his other hand as he set off further down the alley towards Ollivander's wand shop. He was glad it was so quiet. People at the clock tower had eventually stopped asking about his hair length and colour and had grown used to it, the same for his primary school. Here however it was constantly questioned and it irritated him. Regardless if it was pink with sky blue polka dots it didn't matter. It was none of their damn business.

He entered Ollivander's shop and this time it seemed Ollivander had learnt his lesson as he walked in from the back after the bell had rang. "Ah yes, Mr. Potter. You have come to pick up your wand. It was a most difficult wand to craft. All of the materials where decidedly active and seemed to want to disobey me. The wand is finished and will cost you three galleons as it was only the labour I provided and not the materials as I usually do." Harry handed over three golden coins and received his boxed wand. He set the box down on the counter and lifted the wand out of the box. He felt a rush of power as it bonded with him. It felt like when he and Len had formed their bond. Lifting the wand above his head he slashed it through the air. Black, white and purple sparks shot from the end and formed the image of Len in her human form before fading away. "Oh? An interesting reaction from a wand. May I ask who that was?" Ollivander enquired.

"It is a succubus that I am rather close to if you must know." Harry replied while examining his wand. It was eleven inches of pure black wood that seemed to soak in the light around it which was shot through with red veins. It was rather ominous looking if truth be told.

"Just one thing I will say about that wand. Be careful. If you waver over a spell then there is likely to be a rather nasty backlash. It has great power and precision and will work well with most forms of magic but will excel at Healing and the dark arts. One curious thing I found while crafting it which gave me some difficulty was how it seemed to regenerate. You are someone that will not require a new wand if that one breaks for it will seemingly repair itself. That trait made it a nightmare to cut down to size but I got there eventually." Ollivander retreated to the back of his store now that he had given me the specifics of my wand.

Harry placed the wand back in the box before putting that in with my shopping and left. He walked back to the Leaky Cauldron and into his room. Len was still asleep. She'd curled up into a ball and looked remarkably cute that way. Harry packed his bag into his trunk and stood up. His trunk still weighed about a kilo and he wondered when the feather light charm would wear off. He got back on the bed and lay next to Len's sleeping form. He took one of his new books out, this one was on occlumency, and started reading.

It was about a half hour later that Len began to stir. Harry had just got into the chapters about mindscapes. Apparently a mindscape was an internal world that was representative of the one who held it. It would be a physical representation of a person's mental psyche. When someone managed to attain their mindscape they could start adding traps and defences to their mind. The internal world would act mostly in accordance with the outside world but it there have been known examples of waterfalls that rise into the sky or rivers that flow uphill and other impossibilities. To be honest it reminded him of some descriptions of reality marbles that he had read without the whole affecting the outside world thing going on. He decided that my first task when they returned home was to search for his mindscape and start trapping the hell out of it. According to the abilities test that was now in his trunk he was close. There was no way that he was leaving his mind open to attack.

By now Len had awoken and was laid there just looking at him. "Well Len, I believe that if we can get to King's Cross and memorise it so I can get us there we can go home for the rest of the month. What do you think?" Len kept silent and just nodded at him. They got up and Len switched back to being a cat before seating herself once again on Harry's shoulder. Harry grabbed his trunk, looked around to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything and then left the room. He gave the key back to Tom and thanked him for the hospitality before turning to leave. He paused. It did not make much sense to have a wand without having it available at all times. He turned and headed once again into Diagon Alley.

"Mr. Potter? I was not expecting you again so soon." Ollivander said as Harry entered his shop.

"I was not expecting to be here so soon but I thought what is the point of a wand if I can't have it available when I need it?" Harry raised his forearms "As you can see my arms are already in use but I was wondering if you could modify one of them so it can double as a wand holster."

"I can most certainly do that and it shouldn't take particularly long. If you'd let me take a look at it please." Harry removed the vambrace on his right arm and handed it to Ollivander.

Ollivander had a good look at it before commenting "Most interesting. This has a dagger hidden within it ready to be drawn on the underside and a number of throwing weapons hidden on the other side, japanese kunai I believe. I think I could fit a pocket for a wand underneath where the dagger is hidden. Bear in mind that the wand pocket would normally be seen unlike how the blades are hidden but I think I can sew a few enchantments on it to counter that, a disillusionment charm and a notice-me-not and it should be fine. I can have it done in half an hour if you care to wait." Harry nodded and sat down on the sole chair that was there, a rather spindly thing that looked like it would collapse under much more weight than his. He started reading his book on occlumency again. Len sat on his lap and was happy for him to run one hand down her back if her purrs where anything to go by.

It was thirty two minutes and nineteen seconds later that Ollivander returned with his now modified vambrace. It looked pretty much the same unless one focused on it then the light seemed to shift oddly around the are just underneath it. "that will be four galleons for the modification. I must say though that I examined the dagger within and it is coated in one of the most potent venoms I have ever encountered. Would you mind telling me what venom it is?"

Harry didn't mind questions when politely phrased and he was fine sharing the information "It's gorgon venom" he said while handing over the currency "From what I've seen of the wizarding world there are few who are capable of anything when disarmed. A few carry a spare wand but that seems to be the limit. I prefer to have a number of safety measures on hand." The vambrace fit as perfectly as it did before and when the wand was slid into its new home there was no noticeable change in weight.

"Understandable I suppose. Your wand holster has several charms on it aside from the notice-me-not and disillusionment charms. It has been charmed so your wand cannot be summoned from it and if your wand is anywhere but in the holster or in your hand then it will return to your holster after twenty seconds, the inside has an undetectable expansion charm so that the wand can actually fit in there as well. I am rather proud of it if I do say so myself. A unique holster for possibly the most unique wand I have ever crafted. I doubt that such materials will find their way into my hands again." Harry once again thanked Ollivander before leaving the shop. Ollivander was left looking out the window at the figure dragging his trunk along with a cat sat on his shoulder "Indeed Mr. Potter, a unique wand for a unique wizard. I wonder what you will do in our world. It is rather obvious you think of another as your own." He muttered turning away once again into the depths of his shop.

It did not take Harry long when he arrived at King's Cross to find platforms nine and ten. The supposed barrier between them was obviously sealed until it was needed, made apparent when he surreptitiously leaned against it pretending to need a break from carrying his trunk. He quickly left and found a nearby alleyway from which he took himself and Len back home.

xxxxx

It was several weeks later, on the twenty eighth of August that he finally managed to reach his mindscape. A feral grin crossed his face in the real world. Now that he had found it a legilimens would have to break through all the defences he would set within before having access to his mind. He closed his eyes and immersed himself within his own mind. It felt like he was falling into a deep pit. He stopped falling and opened his eyes. It was dark all around him. He knelt down and felt the ground beneath his feet. It was rough, cold stone like a cave floor. In one direction he could see something other than black and he headed in this direction.

He soon arrived at the entrance to what had been a cave mouth. He stepped out and looked around. It was barren. There was black cracked stone for as far as he could see with nothing but spindly, needle like, ash grey trees sprouting from the ground. The sky above him was black with a few glimmers of red stars. No moon was out and the available light was low. Harry turned to look at where he had come from and saw the cave that was the entrance to his mindscape. It was deep and black and that was pretty much all it was. This was where everyone who entered his mind would find themselves. It was narrow and dark, an excellent place to put the initial traps. He would do that later though, he was going to explore his mindscape first. He wandered about the forest aimlessly, occasionally he would come across a crooked statue half sunk into the stone ground, each one was someone he knew, it was rather disturbing. He continued walking until he saw something red between the trees, a final change in the colour.

Heading towards the red he found a lake of some kind. It stretched far away from him and was as wide as it was long. He cupped his hands and lifted some of the liquid out of the lake, it had the colour and consistency of blood. Looking at the surface of the blood in his hands he saw his trip to Diagon Alley several weeks back as if he was looking out of his own eyes again. So these where his memories where they? This needed to be heavily trapped as well. He let his memories slip from between his fingers and back into the lake and kept wandering.

It was an unknown amount of time later that he found what looked like a collapsed church ruin in a clearing. He was rather curious about what he would find inside and wandered up the dirt path to the large doorway. Once inside he blinked. This wasn't a church. There was a wide staircase heading downwards at the far end of the church, it was in the style of Gothic architecture. He headed down the stairs and found himself in a library of some kind. He approached the shelves to the left and found a copy of The Standard Book of Spells series that he was currently reading through. He opened the first volume and its contents where exactly as he remembered. If the lake of blood embodied his memories then did this place represent his knowledge? He decided that it probably did and set the book back before ascending the stairs once again. He had caught sight of further stairs leading downwards but decided to leave them alone for now, he would reorganise this library at a later date.

He wandered around his mindscape until he returned to the cave that represented his connection to the real world. He had gone to the edges of this inner world and looked over the edge. All he had seen was an eternal black void, not inviting at all, it was like this was an island left suspended in an empty abyss. He studied the cave for a moment trying to decide what his initial traps would be before something caught his attention. Len came walking out of the cave looking around curiously. "Ah, of course. You can enter dreams can't you Len and what is this but a waking dream. I'd better alter the traps to leave you alone eh? You could also help me guard my mind too now that I think about it." Harry began musing on how best to lay his traps once again before deciding to call it a day. He could always do this tomorrow. He had three days before September first to put his traps in to place and he wanted to read through and memorise his textbooks now that his occlumency had reached another plateau to see if he remembered it any better.

xxxxx

If anyone had been down a certain side alley near King's Cross railway station on that September first at quarter past ten they would have seen a group of people appear out of thin air and without the traditional popping sound that indicates a witch or wizard apparating. They where an odd group. Two of them had long purple hair and eyes, another was an older man with red eyes and there was a woman who looked to be in her early twenties with shoulder length blond hair and red eyes, a fourteen year old look alike with black hair and, once again red eyes along with A woman in her twenties with brown hair and blue eyes. They where all surrounding an eleven year old boy with the most unusual appearance of all.

With Len on his shoulder and his trunk in his hands Harry started heading off out of the alleyway with the gorgon sisters, Zelretch, Altrouge, Arcueid and Aoko following him. Unfortunately Waver had to give a lecture this morning. Aoko was the one who broke the silence "You know, for travelling to an alternate reality that felt kinda anti-climatic." Zelretch chuckled before replying.

"If you wish to have an interesting trip through the multi-verse you need only say the word miss Aozaki, I have discovered several more worlds since this one and a number of them are far less hospitable." Aoko twitched a moment. If Zelretch considered something inhospitable then there was no way she wanted anything to do with it. He had been known to have a distorted notion of safety, humour as well come to think of it.

"No thanks, I'm good. How do we get onto this weird platform anyway? What was it? Nine and three-quarters, right?" Harry grinned before answering her.

"We must walk, or run if you prefer, at a solid brick wall between two regular stations which, for certain days of the year, becomes a portal to another platform entirely. How does that sound?" He was rather amused by it himself if a little apprehensive.

"It sounds insane." Aoko dead panned. She had seen him with that broomstick of his and initially giggled that Harry would choose such an unmanly discipline of magecraft to experiment in, she'd joked that with the hair and now the broom it wasn't long before he would turn fully into a girl proper. That had lasted till he had flown circles round her at high speed, he found he was rather good at flying. After that she had gone through the books from his birth world and could often be heard complaining that magic doesn't work like that. She had told him that her official stance on it was that magic in his birth world was so turned on its head that it didn't even make sense to itself and managed to exist by convincing a retarded donkey that flying was possible and succeeded in doing so. He didn't think that made sense either but that is all she would say on it.

Regardless of any potential benefits and drawbacks he wanted to go to this world. He had pretty much cemented himself in the world he'd lived in from when he was five and, as far as he was concerned that was his home world. He had taken to referring to the world he is in now as his birth world instead to differentiate the two. No matter how much he might live in his home world he still had tenuous connections to this one. He wanted to wander the school his parents had attended, he wanted to know if they would have approved of him, if they would have cared about his non-human side, if they would understand how he viewed the world. He made a promise to himself that he would at least achieve the necessary qualifications in this world that Hogwarts provided. Zelretch had also taken a look at worlds that where parallel to this one and found that Harry would be a major part of events that happened at Hogwarts. If he didn't go then people tended to die due to various causes. Harry may not like people in general, he may even advocate killing in the right circumstances but he was not someone who stepped aside when people where in danger and he was in a position to help them. He would reconsider all of his options when he had achieved his O. as they where called here. Zelretch had not told him what had happened in the parallel worlds and instead said that this was to see how he handled responsibility without being handed everything on a platter. This was to be a learning experience for him. It didn't hurt that he would be around those his own age for a prolonged period of time. He usually spent time with people far older than himself both in human terms and greater. Len had been with Arcueid for six hundred years after all and as such could hardly be called young. Yes, regardless of what happened, he would stick with it at least until the end of fifth year, he was stubborn like that.

They approached the barrier between platforms nine and ten. They all looked at each other "Well show us how it's done then Harry, this is your school you're leaving for." Harry just glared at Aoko but took a breath and started running towards the wall. It looked awfully solid, when he was mere inches from the surface he wondered if he still had time to brake but, before he knew it, he had passed through the barrier and was now standing on an empty platform with a scarlet steam train waiting there. He turned to see everyone else come through the barrier between here and King's Cross. Aoko was muttering under her breath again about unnecessary displays of magic to impress and wastes of potential. Harry ignored her and looked at the others.

"Well, I guess this is where we await your departure," Altrouge said, she looked a little down so Harry decided to giver a hug and some reassurance.

"Once everything settles down I will come back to the clock tower every weekend, you can count on it." Harry would as well. If he wasn't busy then he saw no reason to leave his friends alone for months at a time. He might even be able to get some sparring done with the enforcers, he wanted to keep his physical fitness up after all.

Altrouge smiled at him as he stepped back. "I was going to meet Hermione here at half past but we seem to be about ten minutes early. How about I show you some of the magic I've been practising for the past few weeks? It's mostly basic but useful stuff. I went through all the books I have and collected things like cleaning and hygiene spells together. I did learn a fourth year summoning charm though, it's great if you've lost something and don't know where it could be." The others agreed and Harry showed them some things such as the levitation charm and incendio. He told them that he had learnt most of the syllabus for the first few months and had concentrated on more combat practical magic. He could use the disarming charm and a mild cutting curse but apart from a stunning spell and a basic shield there weren't many spells within the school textbooks that could be used directly in a fight. He had read through his other books including some borderline and some true dark arts spells from books that Zelretch had acquired over the years. He was fond of a rather unusual cutting curse that homed in on the wrist of the hand that holds the wand. It was difficult to heal and even then took time to do so. He viewed it as an appropriate non-lethal way of winning a fight. He had also been enamoured with a spell that was supposed to conjure great icicles to launch at a foe but so far the biggest icicle he had managed to conjure was only about the size of his little finger and it melted rather quickly too. He'd found another spell that he thought would be useful if people went to far and needed a warning to back off. It was a cutting curse, it didn't actually do much harm but it was guaranteed to scar no matter what was done to heal it.

The ten minutes until half past went quickly and a few families joined them on the platform. The group got some odd looks but their attention instantly went elsewhere when they caught sight of any of the vampires' red eyes. Harry had forgotten that red eyes was supposedly a sign of evil in the wizarding world. He decided then and there that if he was to pull a prank then the first would be to find a way to change the eye colour of everyone there and see how they liked having red eyes for a week.

Harry turned to the barrier as he caught sight of a head of extremely bushy hair. Hermione and her parents made their way over to them when they saw the bright colours of our hair. "Harry, It's so good to see you. How have you been?"

"I've been fairly good myself, practised some of the spells and met with success, and yourself?" He smiled slightly, if she stuck true to herself at the time she was in Diagon Alley then he would bet that she had memorised their set texts already. He had done so himself but he had the advantage of occlumency to aid him.

"I've learned our books by heart and practised a few spells, they've all worked for me. I have read a history of magic and I am going to follow your advice and check it against other history books when we get to Hogwarts, the book seems to show Goblins as nothing but bloodthirsty and greedy monsters and muggles as idiots when it came to the witch burnings. Oh yeah, I didn't introduce my parents when we last met. This is my mum, Emma Granger and my dad Dan Granger. Who are your friends?" Harry smiled, it seemed their meeting had at least a little effect on her. She hadn't taken a book to its word and instead tried to see where it correlated to others. It was a good step to take.

"Nice to meet you Mr and Mrs Granger," Harry said shaking Mr. Granger's hand and kissing Mrs Granger's. "It is a pleasure to meet you. This Old man here is Kischur Zelretch Shweinorg but he is always just called Zelretch, This lover of explosions is Aoko Aozaki, this is Arcueid Brunestud and this is Altrouge Brunestud, believe it or not Altrouge is the older one despite them both acting somewhat childish, these two here are Stheno and Euryale and last but not least the one on my shoulder here is Len." He introduced them all. Each of them grumbled about the descriptions but not one of them denied it.

"Ah, I'm sorry but do you know why everyone keeps looking this way?" Emma Granger asked.

"It's because in the wizarding world they have certain superstitions. One of them is that red eyes are a sign of evil. These three here have red eyes but that is because they are vampires. My eyes actually changed to red when I was adopted too and if people don't get over it by the time this train sets off then I will find a way to turn all of their eyes red for a week when I get to Hogwarts." Hermione looked about to say something but stopped. Harry looked at her, "Yes?" he asked.

"I don't like the idea of pranking people. It uses up time we could use to learn." Ah, it seemed she had no problem with pranks themselves but how disruptive she viewed them to be.

"As long as it doesn't disrupt the work environment and no single person is targeted and singled out I see no problem with it. It is also a good way to learn by itself. Each prank needs to be researched and put together properly to be successful. It allows you to think of unconventional and innovative ways of doing things that aren't usually listed in a text book." She seemed to be thoughtful at the first part but when he mentioned learning and practising them in a practical manner her eyes lit up. It looked like he now had a willing assistant.

The train tooted its horn. Harry looked at the clock on the wall and realised it was five minutes until the train set off. He reinforced his arms and grabbed his and Hermione's trunks and lugged them towards the train after giving everyone a hug goodbye. "I'll see you all Saturday if you're there" he called behind him as the train started to pull away. He dragged the two trunks down the train until he came across a compartment with only a single person in it. Opening the door he asked "You don't mind if the two of us join you, do you?"

The rather pudgy boy shook his head and said "No, not at all." He seemed somewhat nervous and flighty. He could deal with that. Harry dragged his and Hermione's trunks into the compartment and then shoved her trunk into the overhead luggage rack, he took two books from his trunk before hefting it up there as well. Harry turned to the boy in the compartment with them.

"My name is Harry Potter, this is Hermione Granger. May I ask for your name?" Harry asked politely. He hoped that the boy wasn't either a fanboy or a blood purist. He couldn't stand either.

"I'm N-Neville Longbottom. A-Are you really Harry Potter? I'm s-sorry but the descriptions of you are way off i-if you are." He stuttered a bit over his words. His question was typical but it wasn't said in a way that put Harry off.

"Yes I am Harry Potter and you are correct, I do not look like what people envision me to be. I suppose that comes from being separated from the wizarding world at the age of one." Honestly, why did everyone have just such a preconceived notion about what he looks like and what personality he should have? It baffled him.

They soon settled down after that and started discussing the differences between the muggle and wizarding world, Harry was personally making note of the differences in the magus world. It was soon after that when the compartment door opened. A gangly, red-headed boy with dirt on his nose stood in the door way. His eyes lit up when they landed on Len who was in Harry's lap. Harry was decidedly on edge, something was up.

"Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full." Hermione was about to reply but Harry cut in before she could.

"Really? You do know that the class sizes are less than half what they where a decade ago right? The Hogwarts express has not changed the number of carriages and in fact a compartment will expand to fit more people in right?" This stank of a set up to Harry "Not to mention that Hermione and I where two of the last ones on the train and we didn't see any red-heads on our way down the train."

"Ah, come on Harry mate. I just want to sit down." Here he really failed, none of them had yet introduced themselves. The only name given was Hermione's.

"Harry? As in Harry Potter? He's supposed to be starting this year, isn't he? Have you seen him? What's he like?" He was unashamedly channelling Hermione here.

"But it is you! You've got the cat and everything. The hair and the weird blindfold!" He had obviously been sent to befriend Harry but had been really bad at something called discretion.

"Doesn't Potter have black hair and green eyes?" Harry asked Hermione and Neville "The stories have him in glasses as well don't they?"

Hermione picked up on what was going on "Yes, in the 'Rise and Fall of the Dark Art's' and 'Modern Magical History' as well as 'Notable Wizards of Our Time' Harry has short black hair and bright green eyes. He also has a lightning bolt scar on his forehead."

The intruder didn't seem to get the message "But you're Harry Potter! Dumbledore said you had a weird cat with you that wore a bow and pompoms!" and there he gives himself away. He really wasn't the subtle type.

"Who is Dumbledore?" Harry asked. He knew of course but decided to play ignorant. "Why would he know anything about Len here anyway? Is he some kind of stalker?" Here Neville let out a choked cough and Hermione's lip was twitching.

The intruder however seemed shocked "Dumbledore's the greatest wizard ever! He's the only one You-know-who was ever afraid of. You called him a stalker! He was right, you are turning dark! I'm not hanging around a dark wizard!" With that he fled the compartment.

"Ah, peace once again." Harry sighed. Hermione however had a question she needed answering.

"Harry, how did you know that he wasn't being genuine?" Harry looked over to her. She was honestly curious and couldn't work out how he knew.

"You didn't notice as you where caught up in your conversation but when he came in he was looking for something. He recognised Len and neither her nor myself recognised him. It was rather suspicious. The war with Voldemort crippled the magical population and is only now beginning to recover. There used to be about a thousand students attending Hogwarts at a time, now there is a little less than three hundred. The train has the same number of carriages it did then so there is no way that the train could be full up. I also felt the dormant expansion charm when I analysed the train out of curiosity." There, now see if she picked up on what else the red-head had let slip. It was Neville however that mentioned it.

"Didn't he say that Dumbledore mentioned the cat to him? Why is the leader of the light sharing that with a first year?" Now here we get on to the good stuff. Time to show everything Harry had learnt about the leader of the light.

"Dumbledore is Headmaster of Hogwarts, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. Two of these are full-time positions. He holds all of them because he was heralded as the paragon of the light after his defeat of Gellert Grindlewald in nineteen forty-five. The wizarding world has an odd habit of pushing responsibility onto anyone who will shoulder it. Before becoming headmaster of Hogwarts he was both the deputy and the transfiguration teacher as Mcgonagall is now. He was also the oldest member of the faculty. Headmaster Armando Dippet decided to step down from his post in nineteen fifty-six. Dumbledore was a shoe-in for the role. As Headmaster he has the ability to hire and fire any of the faculty and it takes a majority vote of eighty percent of the board of governors to suspend him pending investigation. He also has the power to alter the syllabus taught to the school children. If you compare the syllabus of nineteen fifty to today's then you will notice a significant difference. Among the current courses there have been several items removed from the charms and transfiguration syllabi and the defence against the dark arts syllabus is left up to each successive professor as none have remained as such for a complete three terms since nineteen fifty-seven. There is a supposed curse on the position that prevents anyone retaining the post for a full academic year. Hogwarts used to be either first or second in the worldwide rankings for magical education. It is now ranked seventh. The house in Godric's Hollow where my family met its end was not a Potter property but a Dumbledore one. This last I found out when I went to check with the goblins about my accounts. It can also be noted that the Will of James and Lily Potter was sealed by the then Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and can't be opened without either his permission or head of house Potter which shall be me when I turn seventeen." Harry took a breath here. He noticed the wide eyes looking at him, particularly from Neville.

"It is curious that Dumbledore then claimed magical guardianship over me and had me hidden away. He told the wizarding world I was safe and cared for. The WCS or Wizarding Child Services which was formed in nineteen forty-five after the defeat of Grindlewald to deal with orphaned children has no file on me. My location and well-being relied solely on Dumbledore's word. I did not have a good life up until I was five years old. The changes then had nothing to do with Dumbledore. As of now I have guardians and they became such completely legally too. The only staff member of Hogwarts that was aware of Len was Professor Minerva Mcgonagall. Hermione can tell you that as we got our school supplies together. It is curious that one of identifying factors used for me was known to so few as I arrived at the Leaky Cauldron on the evening of the twenty ninth of July and left the wizarding world completely on the morning of the thirty first." Here Harry stops and look at the other two in the compartment. He was going to attend a boarding school for at least five years. He was damn well going to know who was teaching him. He had had Zelretch compile files on the entire faculty, it had been so easy as the department of records was available to the public unless it was sealed which wasn't often, after all hardly anyone went rooting through the mass of parchment in there. Of note was Rubeus Hagrid, expelled for an unstated reason but kept on as gamekeeper, Argus Filch was a squib with a violent past when it came to magical folk, Severus Snape, a convicted death eater who had charges against him dropped due to Dumbledore's claims of him being a spy, Filius Flitwick, he had a goblin for his paternal grandfather and may detect the oddity in Harry's nature and finally Bathsheda Babbling, the runes teacher, a half-blood and orphaned in a bloody manner in which she retaliated against her aggressors and received a two year stint in Azkaban for 'excessive use of force' and 'spilling blood unnecessarily', simply put, her aggressors where pure-bloods and family heirs at that.

Neville looked at Harry "You m-mean to say that D-Dumbledore is..."

"A manipulative old man that sticks his nose where it doesn't belong? Yes." Harry stated. Hermione was shocked but said something that made Harry proud of the effect he'd had on her.

"Can you back up all that justification though? You told me not to believe everything just because, remember?" Harry grinned at her and replied.

"Most of what I just told you can be found in the department of records in the ministry of magic. The exam papers of the mentioned years can be found in a sub-department of the magical education collective and you can ask Wizarding Child Services most of the rest. The goblins at Gringotts will remain close-lipped unless the client themselves are present however." All true. Harry however was wondering why Dumbledore interfered so much in his life and no one else's. The compartment fell silent as they digested what they had heard and Harry went back to his books. He was rather curious about the animagus transformation but you needed to be at least thirteen before attempting it. Apparently your personality wasn't yet stable enough to develop an animagus form until you started to hit puberty, this was unfortunate as he'd wanted to stalk through the clock tower in his form that no one would recognise and play games and pranks that no one could link to him. He was also curious what sort of form he would possess.

The compartment door opened again and this time, instead of a weasel, a ferret had decided to pay him a visit. "Not here either, there's nothing but squib Longbottom, what looks like a half-breed freak and the stench of mud. I don't think Harry Potter is coming to Hogwarts. Perhaps he's too much of a coward to show himself amongst those of superior breeding." The ferret was addressing two shaved gorillas that had followed him in. Harry sighed, he was really starting to lose all patience now.

"You've made your point. Can you please leave now?" He was getting irritable and he wasn't very friendly when irritable. These two here where the only ones so far that seemed relatively decent for Hogwarts if the rest where anything to go by.

"No I don't think we will. A freak like you needs to learn his place. Now why don't you and the rabble leave. There's plenty of room here for the right sort of people." The ferret had leaned down and was now in Harry's face. That was not an advisable place to be.

"I'm trying to control my temper here but one more comment will have a blade at your throat." Harry really was trying but after the reactions to his family on the platform, that red-headed nuisance and now this. Safe to say that he was about to blow a fuse.

"I don't think a freak like you really has an opinion. Crabbe, Goyle why don't you show him what a freak gets at Hogwarts. The lumbering hulks of idiot muscle took a single step each into the compartment. Ferret was twirling his wand in his hand idly without a care in the world. Harry reacted. He had had enough. If they wanted to play then he would damn well play their game. He reinforced his body to help with his speed and strength along with his reaction times. He funnelled prana into the raido, uruz, sowilo and ehwaz runes stitched into various items of his clothing to further enhance himself. He traced two sets of chains and threw them at the gorillas who quickly became entangled in them. Harry traced a kusarigama an instant later and wrapped the weight and chain around ferret boy's hands while knocking the wand from his grasp. The blade of the hand scythe was pressed close against his neck. All of this took place in less than two seconds. The entire compartment froze.

"I have had just about enough of you and your attitude. Leave now and take your pets with you or else you will soon be in a large amount of pain." The smell of urine told Harry his warning had been heard. The ferret left the compartment and Harry allowed the chains and kusarigama to fade. The two trolls followed ferret out of the compartment.

It seemed that blondie hadn't fully learned his lesson as he turned back to the compartment and said "You won't get away with this, wait until my father hears about it." before rushing away with his bookends in pursuit.

"Was that really necessary Harry?" Hermione asked. Harry expected her to be a bit afraid after his display but she seemed to be more curious about something else.

"Yes, it was. He is a pompous self-entitled arsehole that thinks others should bend over and lick his feet clean. Being polite would have gotten me walked all over, you can note that I tried to be diplomatic at first, and he only responds to force and even then he instantly goes running to his daddy to solve all of hid issues. It's easy to see he has been pampered and raised to believe he is better than anyone else." Harry really didn't care about status. He would befriend heroes just as easily as he would befriend those classed as monsters as long as they where of agreeable character. It was his flaw however that he didn't like dealing with the masses. He really didn't care about most people but he was loyal to those he considered friend and family.

"That was D-Draco Malfoy Harry!" Neville exclaimed "His father was a big supporter of he-who-must-not-be-named but he claimed he was under the imperious curse for it." Neville gulped "Lucius Malfoy is pretty big in social circles and he has minister Fudge's ear."

"Neville, I don't care. I came to Hogwarts because it is where my parents went. I want to know what they felt like as a child. I want to know whether they'd be proud of me or horrified. I have no intention of getting a job or being a social star of the wizarding world. My home and everything associated with such a concept lies where the wizarding world can't reach." Harry reaches over and grips Neville's shoulder "You can make your own judgements and decisions. I am not going to stand for such prejudice. If he decides he wishes to try again then the result will not differ."

Hermione finally seemed to boil over "What was that magic you just did? You didn't use a wand and you didn't even say an incantation. How did you do it?" Harry sighed. It seemed curiosity was a basic character trait of the girl and she could not go without questioning something for long.

"It's called tracing, a modified version of projection that a friend of mine discovered. It does not require a wand. It is foreign and very few are capable of it. I used no incantation because my focus is good enough not to." There. All technically true if you count another dimension as foreign and she was unlikely to meet another magus so it would definitely seem rare to her.

That seemed to quench her thirst. The rest of the journey was kept in quiet conversation. Thankfully there where no more interruptions. When it got dark Harry and Neville left the compartment while Hermione changed and then she waited while they changed. It was as the train was nearing the end of its journey that Neville cried out "Oh no! I've lost my toad. He was a gift from my great Uncle Algie!" Neville started getting frantic. Harry placed a calming hand on his shoulder and asked.

"Does your toad have a name?" Neville did calm somewhat with the question.

"Yes," Neville said "He's called Trevor." An interesting name. Alliteration if Harry wasn't mistaken. Opening the door Harry drew his wand from its holster before pointing it towards the open doorway and incanting

"Accio Trevor the Toad." There was nothing for a moment until a resentful croak preceded said toad into the compartment. Glancing at Hermione, he answered the question that he was sure she'd ask "Standard Book of Spells Grade Four. I memorised it and some household spells, they seemed useful." She shut her partially opened mouth and nodded. Harry packed his two books away then turned to leave the compartment as the train was slowing down and almost made it out the door before Hermione asked.

"Did you bring it with you? And if so, can I please read through it?" Harry looked back before calling over his shoulder.

"I brought all seven of the series and sure you can read them." That seemed to placate the girl. With Len once again on his shoulder he led the three of them out onto the platform.

xxxxx

"First years! First years over here!" called a large, wild looking man. He had shaggy untamed hair but his eyes held a lot of warmth. He wore a brown leathery looking jacket and carried a large lantern. "Is that all of you? Well this way then." So saying he led them down a rocky and uneven incline. Harry was able to see in the meagre light by reinforcing his eyes. He had to catch Hermione on occasion when she stumbled but she was nowhere near as bad as Neville who seemed to be rather clumsy and would have hit the ground several times if it wasn't for Harry's hand keeping him upright. "You'll see Hogwarts in a sec, just round this bend." the giant of a man said. He was right. There where many Ohs! Of appreciation. Harry too was impressed. Hogwarts did look rather grand with its windows lit up and with a backdrop that silhouetted it against the mountains in the distance and the velvety night sky.

"Right you lot. Into the boats." Hagrid called. There was a number of boats at the edge of the lake where they stood. the boats had no oars or other visible means of propulsion. Harry guessed they used magic. "No more than four to a boat." Hagrid called. Harry shared a boat with Hermione, Neville and a girl with mousy-brown hair who introduced herself as Sally-Anne Perks. Judging by the lack of a reaction to his name Harry guessed her to be a muggle-born. "Everyone ready? Then let's go." at Hagrid's voice the boats began to move across the water leaving a series of ripples behind them. Harry looked over the edge and saw a large tentacle cresting the water nearby. He'd read in Hogwarts: A History that the lake boasted a giant squid. The problem was that a giant squid wasn't supposed to live long past human memory and this one had inhabited the lake since the founders' era if the stories where to believed. "Heads down now!" Hagrid instructed. Looking up Harry saw a wall of ivy hanging over the lake. Just great, this was going to make his hair so damn slimy. He gathered his hair to himself and leant as low as he could to avoid the ivy.

Passing through the ivy they ended up in an underground harbour of sorts. Climbing out of the boats Harry had to grab Trevor as the toad made a bid for freedom. All thirty seven new first years were assembled around Hagrid as he walked them up the steps to the front doors of the castle. He raised a massive fist and knocked three times on the door.

Mcgonagall answered it. Harry narrowed his eyes at her. The only way Dumbledore could know about Len to inform that red-headed inconvenience was through her. Intentionally or not she had been a part of it and Harry decided to be careful what he said around her.

"The first years Professor Mcgonagall." Hagrid stated

"Thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here" Mcgonagall led the students across the great flagged floor of the entrance hall and past a set of huge double doors behind which the voices of hundreds could be heard. She led them into a side room off to one side and stopped within. Mcgonagall looked them all over. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted the dirt on the nose of the red-head from earlier and the mess that Neville's robes where. She visibly winced and grimaced when she caught sight of Harry himself and quickly looked away.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," She began "The start of term feast will begin soon. Before you take your seats however you must be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is important. While you remain at Hogwarts your house will be like your family, you will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend your leisure time in your house common room. There are four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has had its outstanding witches and wizards in their time. While you are a student any triumphs will earn house points and any rule-breaking will loose you house points. At the end of the year the house with the most house points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you is an asset to whichever house you end up in." Mcgonagall stopped and looked around before addressing the group again.

"The Sorting Ceremony will begin Momentarily. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can before I come to retrieve you." She left the chamber.

Harry leaned against a wall and Hermione stood nearby biting her finger nails due to nerves. She was the only one talking, muttering under breath about all the spells she had learnt and which ones where likely necessary for this ceremony. Both the Weasel and the Ferret where silently glaring at me. Neville was getting more and more nervous as the seconds ticked by.

A minute later something happened which took everyone's attention off of the impending sorting. A bunch of ghosts had just streamed through one of the walls and where conversing about something called Peeves. One of them, a female who looked to be in her late teens to early twenties, looked completely bored by it all. Harry nodded his head at her which she returned. While the other ghosts garnered the attention of the other thirty six first years this particular one floated over to him and spoke. "There is something different about you. Something which sets you apart from the other children and I am not referring to your colouring." Harry was surprised. He wondered if she could sense his element and origin. He took a bow to her.

"My name is Harry Potter and this one on my shoulder is Len. Who do I have the pleasure of addressing?" He decided formal was good, especially given how old the ghost could be. She smiled and held her hand out to him as if to let him kiss it.

"My name is forgotten in these halls. Most call me the Grey Lady but you may call me Helena." It was then he decided to kiss the ghostly hand in front of him. He surprisingly found it to be solid in his grasp and beneath his lips. Helena gasped.

"I'm guessing that was not supposed to happen." Judging by her reaction she had definitely not expected to make physical contact.

"No, I..." Unfortunately before she could finish what she was saying Mcgonagall came to chivvy the ghosts along and lead the first years into the great hall. With a last glance Helena drifted through the wall.

xxxxx

Walking into the hall as a group the first years followed Mcgonagall to the front between the four long tables and to a stool with an old hat sat on it. Harry heard Hermione say something about the enchanted ceiling but his mind was elsewhere.

His element and Origin where related to magecraft. Ghosts here where related to magic. That was how he saw it but apparently his element registered Helena as solid enough for him to get an unexpected reaction from her. He glanced up and found said ghost at a table with a banner of an eagle at the end that was chequered by blue and bronze. Occupied as he was he did not pay any attention to the whispers of the students he could hear talking about his hair colour and blindfold along with the symbol an his forehead.

His attention was returned to the front when the hat started singing. This was odd, a singing hat wasn't what he expected but he listened anyway.

He didn't like it. From what he could gather Gryffindors where reckless idiots, the Hufflepuffs where the general workforce, The Ravenclaws were the geeky researchers and Slytherin was for those without morals. Fair enough they had a hat that would go rummaging through their minds but it didn't do a very good job of showing the houses in equal light.

Harry shook his head as Hannah Abbot was called forward and sorted into Hufflepuff. He paid attention to all the people getting sorted just so he could put names to faces but didn't particularly care where they went. He paid more attention when Hermione was under the hat. It seemed to consider for half a minute before shouting out 'GRYFFINDOR'. The red and gold table clapped for her as she joined them. Neville was the next one he paid attention to. The boy seemed very nervous during the train ride but hadn't seemed to be overly affected by the sight of bare steel. The hat took a fair while considering him too until it called out 'GRYFFINDOR'. Malfoy swaggered up to the stool as best he could but Harry could still smell the faint aroma of urine on him. The hat had barely grazed his hair when it screamed 'SLYTHERIN' as if it really didn't want to be put on his head. With all the product that must go on that slicked back hair of his, Harry couldn't blame it. There was a few people left after that and it wasn't long before Mcgonagall cried out his name.

"Harry Potter." Harry stepped forward as the whispers began. He could hear them asking what had happened to him and what was up with his hair and blindfold. There where some rather rude questions about the mark on his head meaning he was cursed by a devil. They passed a boy at the Ravenclaw who was rather loudly declaring him to be the reincarnation of Satan when Len had had enough and lashed out leaving claw marks across his face. The hall went silent. Harry just kept walking up to the hat and sat down on the stool. Len settled herself in his lap as the hat covered his eyes. The last thing he saw was a number of people leaning in to get a look at him before his sight was consumed in darkness.

"Well, let's see what we have here," A voice in his head began "Hmm, most unusual this i- AAAAAAAAAH!" the last bit was screamed out loud for the whole hall to hear. Harry had felt one of traps in his mindscape go off and instantly closed his eyes and made his way there.

xxxxx

When he opened his eyes he was inside the cave that represented access to his mindscape. Dashing forwards he came across what the problem was. He'd set runic circles all over the entrance to his mindscape and one of them had been tripped. This particular one paralysed its target while simultaneously giving them an electric shock. When tripped it had sent an alert off to him telling him it had caught something not recognised as friendly which was presently anything other than himself, Len or someone that had been given permission. Obviously the hat hadn't been given permission and had gotten caught.

Harry disabled the trap and grabbed a hold of the hats mental projection, it was rather odd. It was formed of cloth in a vaguely human shape but constantly rippled as if in a breeze. It had no visible features either. It was like someone in one of those things called morph-suits. "That was most certainly a surprise Mr. Potter." The hat's avatar spoke even though it had no mouth "I've never been in the mind of someone who has developed occlumency to this level before. It is a fair bit beyond the regular eleven year old you know." His mindscape had certainly changed from when he had first accessed it. He had given it every defence he could think of. The entrance had been almost completely covered in traps constructed of bounded fields and runes. There was no longer thin spindly trees as far as the eye could see. Instead Harry had tried to recreate the forest of Einnashe. There was thick black trunks obscuring the view and if someone made it a few metres beyond the current point then the trees would move. They would lash out and rip the intruder limb from limb. Harry didn't know what happened when a legilimency probe was destroyed but he imagined it was far from pleasant. Amongst the trees the howls of wolves could be heard. They would devour anyone they didn't recognise as either Harry, Len or someone who accompanied either of them.

The hat's avatar looked at Harry at asked him "I hope you know where your memories are. I don't want to be in this creepy mindscape any longer than necessary."

Harry agreed to lead him the way but had to ask "Will you keep whatever you may find there a secret?" The hat looked affronted at that.

"The spells holding me together prevent me from telling of what I find in a student's mind aside from such thing's like if they are friendly or optimistic people and stuff like that." Harry nodded in reply.

"Regardless, I will need a magical oath from you. Know this, however, that I will burn you until not even ash remains if you tell anyone or anything." Harry paused for a moment "I'm sorry but I can't keep referring to you as hat. Do you have a name?" The avatar paused for a moment before speaking.

"No one's asked that in a long time. Godric referred to me as Alistair but Rowena always called me floppy. I would personally prefer the former if you don't mind. As for your oath I will give it." The hat recited a standard binding vow while Harry had raised an eyebrow.

"Did you have a lot of contact with Rowena Ravenclaw?" Harry asks. This was most interesting.

"I'm a hat that gets set on the head of eleven year olds once a year and gets shoved onto a shelf in the headmaster's office the rest of the time. I am bored and seem to have picked up some of the inquisitive nature of those I've touched over the centuries. I want to read books!" Alistair got rather impassioned there at the end. Harry had an idea.

"Tell you what. If you can get to wherever I am sleeping tonight then you can have access to the books in my head. If you wouldn't mind could you inform me of any hare-brained schemes involving me you become aware of? My occlumency allows me to remember books perfectly so you shouldn't have any trouble." Alistair looked at him, or at least its featureless face did. That would take some getting used to.

"Deal. I can ask one of the house-elves to take me there. I will see you tonight wherever you end up." With that done Harry led Alistair to the lake that represented his memories.

"This is it. This lake represents my memories." Harry looked at Alistair.

"Now I need to know how to view them all. I've never been inside the head of an occlumens before so I don't know how to do this." Harry sighed. He stepped up beside Alistair and gave him a push into the Lake of blood that held all of his memories.

xxxxx

The hat, now called Alistair, was experiencing something completely knew to it. The memories that came once he was immersed where more complete and detailed than any other mind he'd been in. Also, unlike other minds, the emotions came through as well and Alistair found himself chuckling at baby Harry and his parents' first fifteen months and crying his heart out when they where taken from him. He growled in anger at the treatment of the Dursley's and sighed in relief when the reprieve came. He smiled at every new opportunity that came Harry's way. He laughed aloud at every success and commiserated with every failure. He cried out with his pain and sighed when it was soothed. He went through a multitude of memories before coming to Harry's eleventh birthday party. He giggled when they ended up in a tangle of limbs and this soon developed to full on laughter. Unbeknownst to Alistair, his physical body in the real world was doing the same.

The students and staff where staring at the hat on the head of the boy-who-lived. After the initial pain filled scream there was silence. Then all emotions possible seemed to erupt one after another. From sorrow filled wailing to pained groans and screams to laughs and smiles. Now the hat had laughed so hard that it literally fell off of his head.

The hat addressed Harry "You have no idea how many grown men would have killed to be in that position do you?" Harry just glared at the hat some more.

"Not funny, just look at the rest of my memories and sort me." Harry bent down and put the hat back on his head.

Back in the mindscape Alistair met up with Harry at the entrance but this time Len accompanied him. "I think I know which house to sort you into. You have more than enough bravery for Gryffindor, Your loyalty is without question, you are a very intelligent individual who values knowledge and you have enough deviousness for Slytherin. There is however two traits combined in you that I feel defines you."

The hat took a breath in the outside world once more "Better be..."


	8. Week one

AN: Okay, I've had several reviews about how Harry comes across older than eleven with his speech. I'll try and fix that as best I can but every time I try he sounds like a baby or mentally deficient. I have also gotten some reviews saying I should get a beta. If anyone is interested then PM me and we'll see what happens. I have also gotten reviews about Harry tracing. I was going to put this in the grail war but here's a brief explanation:

[Spoiler]

The only things Harry can have as his superior gradation air are the list of weapons from the previous author's note. This is because they where made for was there when the weapons where forged for him and he etched the blades himself. He therefore understands them and because of his occlumency he can remember them clearly.

There are seven steps to tracing and here they are

Judging the concept of creation: They where made to be weapons that Harry can use.

Hypothesising the basic structure: Their basic structure is their shape.

Duplicating the composition materials: Here it is plain steel.

Imitating the skill of its making: Harry was there when they where forged, he is the one who etched them with runes.

Sympathising with the experience of it's growth: It has been his weapon since it was forged.

Reproducing the accumulated years: It has been with Harry since its forging, he has also experienced its every use.

Excelling every manufacturing process: Harry was there when it was forged and he personally etched the runes into them.

Some people mentioned Unlimited Blade Works. The mechanics of that is essentially a mindscape that is so alien that it is capable of being projected to overwrite gaia's laws. If Harry where to use legilimency on Shirou then all he would see is his reality marble and he would gain a monumental headache. It is like perfect occlumency.

[Spoilers end]

Now enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 8 – Week one

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The hall was silent as Harry lifted the hat off of his head and headed towards the table underneath the black and yellow chequered banner. Harry sat himself at the end of table with some space around himself. There was a moment before the Hufflepuff table clapped. No one had expected _THE _Harry Potter to be a Hufflepuff. He was supposed to be a righteous Gryffindor or, if he followed his mother's brains, a Ravenclaw. There where a few who had seen him with the red-eyed people at the station that thought he might have been heading to Slytherin.

The sorting continued, there was only a few people left. The weasel from earlier most appropriately named Ronald Weasley was sent to the red and gold house of Gryffindor. The last one 'Blaise Zabini' a boy with olive toned skin became a Slytherin and then the old man at the head table stood up, this was Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster.

Dumbledore looked around the hall with a wide smile on his face and open arms. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. I have just a few things to say before we partake of a wonderful feast and here they are : Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" He sat down then as the feast appeared on the tables. Harry thought about the headmaster's speech, it seemed an innocent and innocuous way of appearing like a kindly and slightly senile grandfather, rather cunning if truth be told. Wary of the suddenly appearing food before him Harry decided to analyse it. It came up clean and Harry began to eat. He made note of those who had been sorted into the same house as himself. For the boys there where Ernie Macmillan,Wayne Hopkins, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Zacharias Smith making a total of five male first year Hufflepuffs, himself included. For the girls there was Hannah Abbot, Leanne Wilkinson, Megan Jones, Susan Bones, Sally-Anne Perks and Lillith Moon making for six first year female Hufflepuffs. Near him there was Moon, Perks and Finch-Fletchley from said first years. Judging from how they where regarding everything with wonder and awe he guessed that they where muggle-born. He began eating the food before him. There was a great variety of foods but it was rather meat heavy, Harry pitied any vegetarians amongst them. Harry was tempted to meet with the kitchen staff and see if they could share recipes. Len's birthday was soon as well and he would bake her a cake if he could, their first as master and familiar. He was rather comfortable when the food disappeared from the plates. He was however pleased when the desserts showed up. Harry decided that he would have a block of ice-cream and a slice of chocolate cake before counting himself full, no need to bloat himself. He once again analysed the food before eating it and was content when it came up with nothing he didn't expect.

xxxxx

With a full stomach Harry sat back and looked around the room. The loudest table where the Gryffindors. They did however seem to be the happiest. They where laughing aloud at jokes and talking over each other all the time. Harry caught sight of Weasley, he was stuffing food in his mouth at a rather fast pace and people around him where shuffling away to avoid flying food. The Ravenclaws seemed to be more refined and careful as if they itched to be elsewhere right now, they ate with efficiency and the conversation topics he could hear from them revolved around their lessons and extra-curricular learning Harry caught the eye of their house ghost, Helena, and gave her a smile and nod which she returned. The Hufflepuff table where he sat had a pleasant level of chatter on all sorts of subjects. It wasn't too loud but nor was everything in whispers. The Slytherin table was the quietest. There was some quite obvious cliques formed within the house and they where holding low conversation together. Harry saw the ferret bully from earlier seated beside a ghost covered in blood and chains, he did not look happy with his company.

Harry looked up at the nearby teacher's table and went over each professor from one end to the other. At the far right was Hagrid the gamekeeper, next to him was Silvanus Kettleburn, the care of magical creatures professor. Next to him was the muggle studies professor, Charity Burbage who was, for some strange reason, a pure-blood who was sat next to the arithmancy professor named Septima Vector. Bathsheda Babbling was next to her and she taught ancient runes. A head of house was on her right, Filius Flitwick was head of Ravenclaw and taught charms as well. Minerva Mcgonagall sat between him and Dumbledore, she was Head of Gryffindor in addition to holding both the post of transfiguration professor as well as deputy head. Albus Dumbledore himself was next, he sat in a grand chair in the centre of the table as if presiding over all. Next to him was Harry's own head of house, Pomona Sprout, who also taught herbology. Severus Snape, the potions master, was beside her and he was talking to the turbaned Quirinus Quirrel, that one had just returned from a sabbatical abroad and had previously taught muggle studies but now had taken the post of defence against the dark arts. There was an empty seat next to Quirrel. Sybil Trelawney who taught divination rarely ventured out of her tower. She claimed it clouded her inner eye to be amongst the masses. After that empty chair was Aurora Sinistra, the astronomy professor. The last two at the end where Poppy Ponfrey, the school mediwitch and the flying instructor Rolanda Hooch. There was another member of staff but Argus Filch, a squib caretaker, preferred his own company.

Some of the professors noticed him looking. Hagrid gave a smile and a cheery wave, Babbling seemed to be regarding him curiously, Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in his direction and Snape's gaze flickered over to him only briefly.

Soon after that the puddings too disappeared and Dumbledore got to his feet. "I have just a few more announcements now that we are all fed and watered. First years should note that the forbidden forest is just that, forbidden. A few of our older students should be reminded of that too." His eyes flickered over to the Gryffindor table "Mr. Filch has also asked me to remind you that no magic is to be used in the corridors between lessons. Quidditch trials will be held in the third week of the year. Those interested in playing for your house team should inform Madam Hooch before then." Dumbledore took a breath and became more serious at this point.

"I must also say that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds for all those who wish to avoid a painful death." Harry's eyes narrowed. If it was so dangerous then why was it in a school? "And now for something less heavy," Dumbledore immediately brightened up "let's sing the school song, pick your favourite tune and your own pace and off we go!" Harry saw the expressions of the rest of the staff become rather fixed at this point. He could see a twitch just above Snape's eye, Hooch and Pomfrey where already making a discreet escape through a side door. Dumbledore flicked his wands and the lyrics came out to however before him. Harry quickly read through them.

Oh no, there was no way anyone was getting him to sing that! He quickly mouthed through the song in case anyone was looking his way. Everyone finished sooner or later until all that was left was a pair of red-headed Gryffindor twins that looked like they could be related to Weasel. They where singing a slow and mournful tune that you where more likely to find at a funeral. Harry so wanted to shut them up so they could get going already. A simple stinging hex would do it but it would be far too noticeable and, with the exception of a gandr curse and his eyes, he had to incant all his current magic aloud. He couldn't use his eyes as that would be far too permanent and lethal and people would notice a gandr curse.

The twins where soon finished and Dumbledore sighed "Ah music, a magic beyond all we do here. Now time for bed, off you trot." With that everyone in the hall started moving. Those wearing prefect badges called the first years to them. When the first years had joined them the hall had emptied of most of the students.

"This way for Hufflepuff." One of the prefects called over her shoulder as they headed out of the great hall and to a staircase heading down into the basement. "We still got everyone?" after confirming that, yes, all Hufflepuff first years where still with them the prefect headed down the corridor then took the first left. "We in Hufflepuff are fortunate. Our common room is close to the entrance hall and that helps avoid getting lost in the mornings." They passed a painting of a bowl of fruit on the wall "Hufflepuffs are also looked down on as the duffers, we aren't expected to excel like the Ravens, we don't do the best at quidditch like the reckless lions and the cheating snakes. We badgers are easily ignored and overlooked but we see things through to the end no matter what. That is something to be proud of." They had finally arrived at a painting of a landscape. "Gryffindor and Slytherin have passwords and Ravenclaws have a riddle. We simply identify ourselves and walk through the painting here. If someone wants to come in with you then you have to simply add guest when you announce yourself. Watch me now."

The girl looked at the painting and clearly stated her name "Stacy Brook". She then stepped through the painting as if it wasn't there. The second prefect that remained looked at the first years.

"It's quite easy, Once a name is given just walk through it." Harry was concerned however. Would he have to recognise Len as a guest? How did it work with non-humans? How did it work for sentient non-student beings? He waited until it was just him and the prefect left.

He took a breath and looked at the landscape "Harry Potter" he called and stepped forward. It felt a little cool as he passed through the painting and then he ended up in the common room where he could see a roaring fire in the grate. He looked to his left shoulder to find Len was still perched there. It seems the painting had no problem allowing her through. The male prefect came in behind him and the first years gathered to him and Stacy Brook.

"A useful thing about our dormitory being underground instead of a tower like the Ravens and the Gryffs is that it has more room to spread out. Space expansion charms can only go so far. We have two to a room rather than group dormitories like the houses with tower dormitories." Hearing this everyone else paired up Ernie Macmillan paired with Zacharias Smith and Wayne Hopkins paired with Justin Finch-Fletchley. The girls also paired up. The prefect girl looked at Harry before saying "Seeing as we have an odd number you'll get your own room. Normally you'd pair up with an older year but we currently have an even number of Hufflepuff guys." Harry was completely okay with that. He preferred that to the company of unknowns. "The boys' rooms are along the left here and the girls to the right."

The groups split. The girls followed Stacy down one corridor while the as yet unnamed male prefect led them down the other. "There is a ward around the girls' corridor that prevents males from going down there so don't get any ideas. Anyway curfew is ten at night except when you have astronomy and is lifted at six am. Breakfast is available from seven in the morning and the first lesson starts at a quarter past nine. If you know where you're going you can head of at nine and easily make it. You however don't know where you're going. Ask a student if they know the way or, better yet, find someone who is in the same part of the castle for that period. Be in the hall for half eight to get your schedules. That is all gentlemen. These three will be your rooms for the next seven years. I think you'll find your trunk already inside and your name should be on the door by the time you wake up in the morning. Goodnight." The boy turned and left. Harry put his hand on the door handle to the door in the corner and went in.

The room was larger than he expected, it was square and about three metres a side. If this is the kind of room he had to work with then he might bring his bookshelves from home to fill the space a little. All that was presently in there was a four poster bed and a wardrobe to hang clothes in that had two drawers beneath it. His trunk was tucked underneath the bed and he dragged it out. He opened the trunk and rooted through it to find what he wanted. He found blue tack, paper and masking tape. He had not expected he would be alone in a room but now that he was he was more than glad that he had brought these with him. The papers had preprepared formalcraft circles on them. They where some of the non-lethal ones he used for his workshop back home. The floor in this room was wood which was good and there was a rug next to the bed. Harry moved the bed into the corner so had more room to work with and started drawing a formalcraft circle using masking tape on his floor. If they where going to give him his own room then he was going to make it protected and personal. Harry looked at his watch. The time was half past nine. He wanted to be asleep by midnight so he could get up at six and find some place to work out. He had two and a half hours to set up his room however he could. He got started.

xxxxx

It was about ten minutes to midnight when he stopped. Apart from the large circle on the floor he had put a number of arrays on the walls as if they where posters. He had made sure to make them colourful to detract attention away from the circles themselves. He would put up one more circle on the ceiling tonight and in the morning, before he headed out, he would start setting up more regular bounded fields. Len switched from cat to human while still on his shoulders, he passed the masking tape and 'poster' up to her. He held her while she put the circle in place and taped it there. The two of them then collapsed on the bed exhausted.

"Does that have any effect on someone already inside?" A voice made Harry jump a mile as he looked around for the source. On the bed looking at him was the Hogwarts sorting hat.

"How long have you been there?" Harry asked. He had to know how effective the circles where even without the bounded fields he usually had in place.

"Considering I saw you complete that array on the floor, which I believe was the first, then a great amount of time I assure you. It seemed so much more amusing to let you finish before announcing myself. I am curious though what those will prevent. They look like no runic arrays that I would recognise and you have painted over the masking tape on the floor with an odd concoction of paint, lead and your own blood. Are they all made of such?" Well that wasn't so bad. He had been here since before the defences where in place.

"Yes. The 'ink' on all of the formalcraft arrays are made from lead paint, my blood and several other ingredients too." they wouldn't work otherwise. Not like wizarding rune arrays. Harry had started learning how wizards used arrays and when he had he would add them to the room for another layer of defence.

"Oh? Curious. Well then may I see this library of books you spoke of. Harry rolled his eyes before stripping himself down to his boxers. He climbed into the bed and sat Alistair on his head. He fell into his mindscape to find Alistair waiting at the cave entrance.

"This way." Harry grabbed his hand and started marching through the trees to where he would find the ruins of the fallen church.

"You have probably the most creepy looking location I've ever considered inside your head Mr. Potter. Doesn't it concern you at all?" Alistair asked.

Harry looked at the Hat "My mindscape is representative of me, if I consider something out of place here then I consider myself the same. Everything here is normal for me. I do not nor would I know why I should consider myself any differently. Harry led Alistair down the staircase inside the ruin. "My mindscape exhibits things that make me feel comfortable, make me feel like me."

"Considering there is a lake of blood here, some might question your sanity." Alistair dead panned.

"I recognise the scent of blood. I associate that scent with a number of people I am close to. Why should I not consider it comforting?" Alistair just shook his head. They had now reached the bottom of the stairs and Harry gestured around them.

"You said you wanted to read. Read here to your hearts content... or at least until I wake in the morning and take you off. Don't leave here though. If you reach the top of the stairs without me or Len then the defences will register you as an enemy. Goodnight." With that Harry left his mindscape.

Harry became aware of a pair of arms wrapped around him. Len had once again snuggled up to him in her human form. He hugged her back and closed his eyes waiting for morning.

xxxxx

Harry came aware several hours later. He looked around, there was no window as he was underground and he hadn't a clock to look at. He leaned over the sleeping Len to grab his watch off the bedside table. It was a quarter past six. Not bad. He took Alistair off his head.

"Hey! Oh, you're up. It's rather early isn't it?" Harry looked at the tatty old hat before replying.

"I want to keep in physical shape. That means I need a place to practice. I don't know where anything is here so that means I must find somewhere. I will also need to return and get a shower. I need to be in the great hall for half eight to get my timetable too." The hat grumbled a little.

"You can jog around the lake outside if you want to do that kind of thing. Nobody will be awake yet. You should be able to find your way back to the Hufflepuff common room pretty easily too. From what I've heard it's somewhere near the kitchens and the kitchens are directly below the great hall." Harry paused. He thought the hat was connected to the school somehow. How much could it actually tell him about the school.

"You speak as if you are uncertain. How closely connected to the castle are you?"

"I'm not. I could tell you the way to the headmaster's office and a few things along the way but the magic holding me together is not tied into the castle at large. Lady Hogwarts is a separate entity entirely." Well, I now knew that he couldn't direct me if lost but this 'Lady Hogwarts had me intrigued.

"Lady Hogwarts? Is she connected to the headmaster or something?" The sorting hat chuckled at this.

"She used to be. This castle sits upon four intersecting leylines. When the wards where added after the castle was built the magical energy began to gather at what was feeding of the lines. Eventually the wards and magic around the place became sentient. You'll find old magic does that. The ninth headmaster didn't like someone else telling him every little thing that happened so he severed the connection, probably a good thing too as the castle's sentience was young and her incessant updates drove the two previous headmasters insane. The wards have been automated ever since and no one has tried to re-establish that link. The sentience of the castle, the 'Lady Hogwarts' as I refer to it has probably evolved a great deal since then. She might even be able to hold a conversation." Harry stopped and thought about that. On one hand was the risk of potentially forming a mental link with something that could potentially drive him insane. On the other, if Alistair was right, the castle could by now be as sentient as a human and understand what it couldn't before. It was something worth thinking about at least.

With the hat in his hands he walked through the corridors until he came back to the entrance hall. The front doors where open and Harry walked through them. He stopped and took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. This was an improvement over the clock tower at least. The clock tower was primarily bellow ground and, on top of that, was in London of all places. This refreshing breeze would have been like a true sorcery back home. He set the hat down next to a rock "What do you have planned for the day?" Harry asks of it.

"Seeing as you're busy I will call a house-elf to return me to the headmaster's office. I will see you again this evening" Harry nodded and started jogging around the lake. When he returned to where he started the hat was not in sight.

xxxxx

At eight Harry made it back to his common room and headed towards the showers. A quick shower done and he returned to his room. Len was awake and already in her cat form. Harry quickly dressed in his wizarding robes, waited for Len to take her perch on his shoulder and walked out of his room.

He managed to retrace his steps back to the entrance hall and then went to the great hall. It was slowly filling up as the time approached eight thirty so people could get their timetables. Harry sat down at the edge of the Hufflepuff table and analysed the food. Finding nothing wrong he began to eat, every now and then feeding Len something when she batted her paw for it.

"Here's your timetable Mr. Potter." Harry looked up at the smiling face of Professor Sprout. She had wrinkles around her eyes and seemed quite cheery overall, he guessed she was someone who always saw the best in others.

"Thank you." Looking down at his timetable Harry saw that lessons where always over by four in the afternoon with the exception of astronomy which was from ten 'till midnight on Tuesdays and Thursday which finished at half past five but didn't actually start until after lunch. He had a free for second period on Tuesdays as well and he only had a double period on Friday mornings leaving him with time to fill. Harry was one of those people who couldn't be doing nothing. He was either active or he was asleep. It was how he had learnt so much. Rather than gathering and hoarding knowledge for the sake of it, he had done so because he had nothing else to do. He appreciated the work that went into something just as much as the end project. He'd probably have gone to Ravenclaw otherwise.

His first lesson today was magical theory. That was a first year only class that Harry had with the Gryffindors. Their teacher was to be professor Flitwick. After that was a single transfiguration period with Ravenclaw, that was probably for theory. Following that was lunch and then double charms with Slytherin. That was his Monday. It was a good thing he had charms last as he wanted to ask professor Flitwick a few questions on the subject.

The magical theory lesson was to be in the charms classroom. That was nearby the forbidden corridor. He asked around in his house and found that some fourth years had divination and they could show him there on their way past. Catching the attention of Lillith Moon and Wayne Hopkins Harry wandered over to them.

"The girl I just spoke to has divination first and they can go via the charms corridor where our magical theory lesson is. Let the other first years know." The two expressed their thanks before doing just that.

xxxxx

When the time came for people to head off to first period one fourth year girl had an entourage of first years that she led towards the third floor. While the right hand side was out of bounds the left side led to the charms corridor. It was a simple matter to keep left after they reached the top of the staircase.

They reached their room with time to spare and lined up outside. There where no Gryffindors in sight but Flitwick turned up before long. He led them into the room and climbed a pile of books that where on his chair. Flitwick was a very short person, he was a metre tall at most. "Well it looks like one half of my class is here at least. How did you manage it? Normally I have to wait a week before people start turning up on time regularly." Everyone looked at Harry who sighed.

"I asked around within my house and someone with divination first led us here on the way to her lesson." Why no one else thought of it he might never know.

"Excellent idea and a showcase of something that Hufflepuff house has become known for, teamwork." He was glad that no more would be said on that subject. "Unfortunately it is likely that the Gryffindors have braved the castle themselves for another year. Let's give them ten minutes to turn up."

Eventually, directed by portraits and ghosts, the Gryffindors turned up. Hermione on entering caught sight of Harry with Len in his lap and took a seat next to him. She looked quite put upon. Harry cocked his head to one side and asked "What is it?"

She gave a frustrated sigh. "My house is idiots. The girls where talking about make-up and dolls while that Ronald Weasley was talking about how you would recruit a dark army of Hufflepuffs and take over the world. He is definitely not a fan of yours." Harry was amused.

"Hufflepuff is the house of loyalty, at least I can be sure my minions won't stab me in the back." That got a weak chuckle from the girl. It was at this point that the boy in question walked in. He took one look at Harry, glared and pointedly sat as far from him as he could.

Flitwick soon called the register. When he called Harry's name he squeaked and fell off his chair. Harry sighed, he could do without all the fuss. That aside it was a good lesson. They only started with the fundamentals that lesson. What is magic? Unlike magecraft which defined itself as anything that could be accomplished with other mundane means and true magic being what is currently impossible, this magic defined itself as anything that was done by the will of the caster that utilised the internal energy that some humans possessed. The lesson went into more detail but that was the gist of it.

Afterwards Harry and the Hufflepuffs had transfiguration while the Gryffindors had defence against the dark arts. He asked Flitwick if he could give them directions and he said that the defence classroom was on the fourth floor and transfiguration was on the fifth. He told everyone to ask the portraits for directions and they would show them right.

Amazingly, or perhaps not, The Hufflepuffs reached transfiguration just before the Ravenclaws, they'd had a free period and had been looking for the library.

Transfiguration was a fully theory lesson for that day. Mcgonagall had them take a lot of notes. The basics of transfiguration where visualisation, concentration and desire of effect. You needed to visualise the process of the change, keep your focus locked on the one object you want top change and put your desire to change it into effect. Harry didn't think he'd have a problem with the second one, memory partition was a useful skill he had after all. The first one would be aided by his thought acceleration as he would think if the change as an algorithm. It was the last one that he couldn't wrap his head around. A desire of effect. As far as he could tell that was meant to be willpower or some such equivalent. Perhaps the self-hypnosis prevalent throughout all magecraft would help but he wasn't sure.

After transfiguration was lunch. He headed off to the great hall, following professor Mcgonagall to avoid getting lost. He ate quietly and fed Len as he did so. His mind was still caught up in transfiguration. He did not speak to those around him. He was cordial and answered a question when directly asked but he didn't initiate anything.

After lunch was charms and Harry headed off to the same classroom where he had had his magical theory lesson. This class was with the Slytherins, Harry was not looking forward to a lesson with Malfoy in it. All day when he was in the great hall he could feel the glare and the enmity directed at him and had looked out of the corner of his eye, hidden by his blindfold, to see who it was. It seemed the ferret hadn't learned. It was only a matter of time until that pot boiled over.

The charms lesson itself was rather fun. It started off with the spell 'scintillae' which caused sparks to erupt from a wand. Each person had different sparks, Harry's where red and black while Susan Bones had light blue sparks and Hannah Abbott had pink and white sparks. They went on to change the colour of the sparks emitted by the wand. They ended the lesson by trying the 'lumos' spell. This spell acted like a muggle flashlight. Harry decided to experiment at the end and he had managed to enlarge the area that the 'lumos' spell covered so it was more spotlight than flashlight. This earned him ten points from professor Flitwick.

After the lesson ended Harry waited behind while everyone else filed out. Flitwick took note of this and asked "Is there something I can help you with Mr. Potter?"

Harry nodded "I was looking through our books and I cam across a charm to make fruit dance that we're supposed to be capable of by year's end and I was wondering what other animation charms are available."

"Some animation charms are exceedingly complex and others are more like several charms laid on top of one another. What use did you have in mind Mr. Potter?" Flitwick looks curious. Hopefully it will help his case.

"Two things really. One is that for every subject I am using two notebooks, one for the things we learn in class and one dedicated to the spells alone," True, Mcgonagall had asked him why he had an extra book out and why he was using muggle stationary anyway. It turned out to be fine as long as homework was handed in on parchment and done with a quill. "I was curious if I could charm an image of a wand to show the motions for each spell. The second would be more physical. Back home I'm used to sparring with others, both hand to hand and with a weapon. I was wondering if you could charm some mannequins or something to be my opponents." Harry was a bit less certain the second one would get him any help. It was for combat after all.

"The first charm is simple. Very simple, the problem with it is that it requires a lot of concentration. It isn't on the syllabus but I see no reason not to tell you, the incantation is 'movere imaginis' and you must have your wand touching the image you wish to put in motion. With a wand tap the image will duplicate what you imagined it would." There, that was something. Harry had good concentration so that shouldn't be too much of an issue. "The second one however is far more complicated. There is a spell called Piertotum Locomotor that will animate a human sized target to defend a location however that isn't what you want is it. That spell is also generally used for armour than a mannequin. Hmm, I'll have to get back to you on that one, what exactly do you want the mannequins to do?"

This was a lot more promising than I had anticipated. "I want the mannequins to be able to identify and use a variety of weapons including fists at a variety of different levels of skill, that would include a wand to cast spells to disarm and incapacitate. I would hope that they could start and stop with a verbal command and shrink and grow too."

"That is very complex Mr. Potter. The wand would be a difficult one but a work around is using something known as a pre-loaded focus. That has a number of spells stored within and the user only needs to channel their magic into it. The problem here is that though the mannequins are moving by magic they possess none of their own. You could attach a gem to each wand and charge them up yourself, that could work." This was starting to sound like jewel craft.

"The recognising different weapons however is definitely something I can do, it relates to wards and how they recognise a target and distinguish them from the caster. The different skill levels is also something I within my abilities, that aspect would require a different and more complex charm for more difficult opponents but it is possible."

This was something to be grateful for, his idea was at least plausible so far.

"You can shrink and grow them yourself with the 'engorgio' and 'reducio' spells which can be found in the third year text. It's again not a difficult one, a fair bit of practice on how to stop the charm going too far or becoming irreversible should see you good. Weak cushioning charms should make the combat non-lethal but it would probably raise a bruise." Harry did not mind getting a bruise or two, it would give him a reason not to get hit in the first place

Harry looked at Flitwick "How long would all of that take?"

Weaving all of that spell work together could take me a month per mannequin Mr. Potter but it sounds like a fun little project. If you can get hold of some mannequins with feet and hands then I will show you the charms as I go. Though it will be a number of years until you'll be able to apply them yourself unfortunately." The professor's eyes where sparkling, he was genuinely excited by this idea. Harry agreed to see what he could get a hold of and then return to Flitwick with results before leaving the classroom.

xxxxx

Harry spent the rest of the day exploring the castle trying to create a mental map which was becoming exceptionally difficult as he would go up a staircase to find a dead end then go back down said staircase and end up in another wing of the castle. It was really starting to irritate him. How did the older students manage to find their way? Was it instinctive for them? He eventually found a 'core' of the castle which didn't seem to change much apart from things like moving staircases but he could live with that.

Harry returned to his room that night quite frustrated. He decided to get his bounded fields set up and get into bed, once again donning Alistair before curling up with Len to sleep.

Harry awoke the next day at six and once again went outside to do his workout. Harry had Defence with the Gryffindors first period. Once again Hermione sat by him and the weasel kept up with the glaring. He was another pot that would boil over before the month was out. From what he could make out of Quirrel's stutter, the guy knew what he was talking about. He spoke today of simple jinxes and how they could be used in numerous situations. The knockback hex was one such and they where going to try and learn that the next day in their double period, he said that anyone successful could move onto light stinging hexes, the most basic, simple and weakest of spells purely meant for damage. What made his lesson a joke was the difficulty he had in being understood and the almost overwhelming aroma of garlic that hung around him.

History of magic after lunch almost had Harry slamming his head against the desk. If rumours where true then the ghost hadn't changed his lesson plan since he died. Another rumour was that you could purchase his lectures word for word from some of the upper year Ravenclaws. Harry intended to purchase said transcripts and if true he was simply going to skip this class completely. The ghost hadn't taken a register at all and one of the Slytherins had even brought a damn pillow into lesson and the ghost did nothing!

Seeing as his only other lesson that day was astronomy up the astronomy tower Harry decided to find a route that didn't change much and asked the portraits if such a route existed. They led him up nine flights of static stairways, which was odd as the castle only had seven floors and he had started on the second, to reach it and he thanked them before memorising the route as he returned down said stairs. He managed to walk into Helena in the corridor on his way to supper.

"Good evening my lady, what an honour it is to meet one such as you." Harry started out with an over-dramatic flourish.

"Why good sir, I find myself on the way to the evening meal, will you lead me to the hall so I may be with my house this evening?" It seemed the ghost appreciated the humour if her twitching lip was anything to go by. Harry supposed being in the house that values the written word above all else must get pretty boring.

"I believe I may If the lady wishes to accompany me." He held out his arm which the ghost put her hand on. She managed to do so without a flinch of surprise at the contact this time.

They headed down to the great hall together and discussed a few inane things such as the weather and the Weasley twins latest prank. When the two of them reached the doors of the great hall Harry bowed to Helena who curtsied back before heading off to their separate tables, several quizzical gazes looked on in confusion but Harry sat away from them as he ate.

That night he headed for the pathway he had found earlier and made it to the top of the astronomy tower five minutes before ten. When professor Sinistra arrived she lead us up to the open sky and gave us a star chart each. She asked the class to fill it in to the best of their ability so she knew how far along they where. As was becoming habit when Hufflepuff and Gryffindor shared a lesson Hermione set her equipment up next to his.

When they had finished professor Sinistra took the star charts in and told us to get tight to bed. Harry did so, only stopping to put Alistair on his head before he snuggled up to Len. It was getting to be what he expected now.

The next morning started with Harry doing an extra long workout session as classes didn't start until afternoon. He had a good lunch and went once again to the charms classroom, the only one he was beginning to be able to find alone.

This charms lesson was theory and Flitwick explained how a charm was defined. It was cast on an object to make it capable of an action in the most simple of terms. This went from charmed motion as with the levitation charm to charming people happy with the cheering charm.

Immediately after charms was double defence with the Gryffindors. We where to practice the knockback jinx in pairs until we got it. The walls and floor had cushioning charms on them so there was no need to worry. Harry and Hermione paired up together and Harry managed to knock Hermione back enough that she then tripped on her robe and fell on her backside after three attempts. She regained her feet with narrowed eyes and her very next jinx knocked Harry back a good two feet. The two moved onto stinging hexes and where two of the six in the class who managed it by the end of afternoon classes.

Hermione wanted to go to the library and Harry decided to accompany her. They spent their free time until the library closed looking up the spells they had used in class so far and derivations of them as well as a few things for other lessons. Harry was studying primarily into potions as that was supposed to be one of the most difficult to get right and Hermione wanted to compare the history books available here.

Once again that night Harry donned Alistair before he fell asleep with Len.

xxxxx

In the morning Harry began what had become his regular workout before heading inside to take a shower. Before he went down to breakfast he looked at the notice board. There turned out to be a single relative post. All houses would have their first flying lesson the following Thursday between half four and six.

Immediately after breakfast he had his first double transfiguration lesson. This lesson was with the Ravenclaws. Mcgonagall gave a long speech on safety and how anyone messing about would be ejected from the lesson before she handed out matchsticks which she told them to turn into needles.

Harry spent a few minutes visualising the change in his mind. The wood giving way to metal, the grain becoming smooth, the match becoming thinner and longer, the hole forming at one end and the point at the other. He concentrated fully on the needle. He did it so much that he excluded all else. He reached over, touched it with his wand.

And nothing happened.

He tried again with the same results. No matter how hard he tried the match remained a match. He got to the point he was irritated with the very concept of a match and jabbed his wand rather angrily when the match suddenly shifted to a needle. Harry was shocked, he blinked for a moment before trying to recall the way he had been when his emotions where high. At the end of the lesson, he had been the only one to fully transfigure the match but there where several pointy matches and even a silver one.

He left the lesson and quietly ate his lunch as he contemplated what he had been feeling when the match changed. He hadn't cared how it changed just that it damn well did. Maybe that was what was meant by a desire for effect? The force of will to make it happen.

That afternoon Hufflepuff had herbology with the Gryffindors. They where comparing soil types and what type of plants grew well in each of them. Neville really seemed to come in to his own here unlike the other classes they had shared, he seemed to be a rather nervous and easily intimidated person. After the lesson Harry headed off to get a shower straight away, dragon dung compost smelled foul! Len had left him to suffer the lesson without her when that came out.

Harry once again spent the rest of the day in the library. There was a number of books here that he didn't have himself and he had compiled a stack of charm books. If Flitwick was serious about charming some mannequins for him then he was going to make sure that he had all of the appropriate spells fully researched. Most of them where newt standard and there was no way that Harry was at that level right now. If they had been third year spells then he just might be able to get them to work but he'd need a lot of practice and luck to do so.

The animation charm Flitwick had given him for drawn images however he managed to accomplish without difficulty. He now had the few spells he had learnt so far in their respective notebooks with moving images of the wand movements.

His evening routine had still not changed. Harry put Alistair on his head as he went to sleep cuddled up with Len. Tomorrow he had potions. This class used no wand movements but relied on the ingredients to work. This was also the class taught by Snape. The man had been scrutinizing Harry all week as if trying to make his mind up about something and it made him nervous.

xxxxx

The following morning Harry got his workout done and returned to his room. He picked up his school bag with his potions text, his notebooks and his equipment in before picking up another box with a carry handle. He had purchased a travel case for potions ingredients and had put all the ones he had in there.

Harry ate breakfast alone again, his house mates had noted that while he was polite and cordial he was very much a solitary individual. Once breakfast was over Harry and his house mates headed down towards the dungeon where the potions classes where held. They had these lessons with Ravenclaw and all of them headed down together.

Snape stood at the front of the class while the register was taken. He paused on Harry's name as if he was going to say something else but simply finished the register instead. He started with a speech on potions. His voice was sleek and oily.

"Potions is some of the most difficult, dangerous and exacting subjects at Hogwarts. Many of you will not believe it to be magic as there is no need for silly wand waving or nonsense words here. I can teach you to brew luck, bottle health and stopper death. That is if you are not the unusual dunderheads that I am forced to teach." Snape looked around the classroom. The Ravenclaws looked offended to be thought of as a dunderhead, the Hufflepuffs where eyeing him warily. Potter however seemed completely neutral and calm from what he could see with that odd blindfold in place obstructing his eyes. He decided to see if the brat was worth his time or if he was like his idiotic father.

"Potter, what would I get if I mixed powdered root of asphodel into an infusion of wormwood?" It was mentioned in the first year text as an example even if it was a fifth year potion.

"That would be the core ingredients of the draught of living death, a potion on the fifth year syllabus which is a powerful sleeping potion. Without the antidote it is said the drinker will never awaken." A complete answer and one not lifted directly from the book. Let's see if he could answer another question.

"Name the seven bases of common potions." That should be more difficult for him.

"Water, mineral oil, sap, hydrochloric acid, animal bile, fruit juice and blood." These where the seven liquids that most potions started out as "A respective example of each is the boil cure potion, the forgetfulness potion, the wiggenwald potion, skele-gro potion, the animagus potion, veritaserum and the blood-repleneshing potion." A very complete answer. One more question out of curiosity then.

"What is the effect of poly-juice potion and name three ingredients" That should stump him.

"It is a newt level potion that allows someone to take on the appearance of another human for a single hour. Three ingredients are boomslang skin, bicorn horn and a part of the one you wish to transform into." Snape gave him a level look.

"fifteen points to Hufflepuff." He looked around the room "Well? Why aren't you writing that down?" The rest of the room blinked before searching hurriedly for writing equipment. They had heard horror stories about the 'bat of the dungeon' from elder students and if they where to be believed Snape was a caricature of evil and loathsome. He never gave any points except to Slytherin and constantly derided the rest as dunderheads and incompetents.

Snape set them into pairs and had them brew a simple boil cure potion. There were eleven students in Hufflepuff and ten in Ravenclaw meaning someone had to work alone. Harry was the one that did so. He copied out the instructions carefully first into his secondary potions notebook, one reserved for potions recipes only. He thought it may get difficult to see the board with the fumes and steam from eleven potions in the room. He then retrieved each ingredient necessary for the potion and lined them up in the required order. He removed a mechanical stop-clock from his bag and put that on the other side of his cauldron. By this point several people had already started their potions and where searching for their second or third ingredient. Harry would rather wait while he got prepared than risk making a mistake. He also intended to reinforce the ingredients as he added them, that should make sure they where as good as he could get them. He got to work and as he brewed the potion Harry could feel the professor's eyes on him often.

Snape wandered about the room for the duration of the lesson. He made cutting remarks about those who where about to ruin their potions. It might make him unpopular but if it saved him from exploding cauldrons then there was no competition. His gaze kept flickering back to the Potter boy. He had been intrigued when he began the lesson by writing something down in one of his muggle notebooks, on his way past he found it to be the recipe for the current potion. That was a smart idea, when there was a lot of potions going in a room then the smoke, steam and other emissions reduced visibility so having the instructions close was a good idea. He then removed the ingredients listed and lined them up. Snape's eyebrow rose, the boy had a case with which to keep his potions ingredients separate and neat, most others simply put them all in their school bag which was an easy way for them to break and spill over everything. The boy had then removed something a little unexpected from his bag. A stop-clock. That would certainly help at more delicate stages. It had yet to be seen whether this boy had the flair for potions his mother had but judging by his actions then his potions would probably all be above average, accurate and consistent. It was rather commendable.

At the end of the lesson Snape asked for a vial of each potion with the name of student clearly labelled to be handed in. Most students left it at that but the Potter boy put the rest of his potion into vials and stored them in his case as well. The rabble left and Snape began to examine the potions in front of him, all where at least passable unlike his other class. The Gryffindor Slytherin rivalry meant not everyone was concentrating on what the where doing and the sabotage didn't help.

"Excuse me sir." Severus looked up. The room was empty apart from Potter stood in front of him.

"Is there something you need Mr. Potter?" If the brat was here to complain about his questioning and attitude then he would have another thing coming.

"Two things sir. One relating to potions, the other more private." Oh, now this was interesting?

"The potions question first then" he was rather curious what the boy wanted to know.

"I purchased extra books before school started, it was how I answered your questions, however I never found any kind of reaction tables. Do you know where I could find some sir?" he asked

"Reaction tables? What do you mean by that?" This was certainly interesting if unexpected.

"A table listing ingredients and how they react with others. It is sometimes used in chemistry to see if mixing two ingredients will result in an explosion, whether they will fizz or another outcome." This sounded useful. There was, however, no such thing for potions.

"I don't believe such a thing exists. How would you go about making one?" The boy was proving he wasn't the arrogant arse his father had been at least.

"A small sample of each ingredient is all that is necessary. Mixing the two together and then recording the result in a table would be the usual method sir. If no such thing exists do you think I could make one?" Hmm, a Potter not afraid of work, no wonder he was a Hufflepuff. Gryffindors wouldn't care, Slytherins wouldn't share and Ravenclaws only cared about answers they could glean from a book, if it wasn't there then, to them, it didn't exist.

He would allow the boy to do so and see if this could be used to teach the dunderheads a lesson. "Very well, may I see your timetable?" Harry, he couldn't associate the name Potter with him with this work ethic so in his mind at least he would be Harry. "You have free time your double period on Wednesday mornings as do I. Come then and I will oversee your project, Hopefully I can prevent a few explosions and melted cauldrons before it is complete." This would also give him a chance to try and understand the boy. "You said you had a second personal question too."

"Yes sir. You are the same age as my parents would be. All I know about them was that they where Gryffindors and head boy and girl in seventh year. Could you tell me anything about them?" A question with two parts. One, a woman he loved and another, a man he hated.

"You do know I was a Slytherin, don't you? The rivalry between houses is not new and anything I tell you will be from such a perspective." How would Harry react to having the legend of his father torn down?

"That is exactly why I came to you sir. Not only are you their age but you are less likely to flower it up and make it pretty so that I have a positive image of them. Your words will probably be more accurate." The boy had a point.

"Your father had three friends at Hogwarts. Sirius Black, now in Azkaban, Peter Pettigrew, now dead and Remus Lupin, a werewolf who's whereabouts are unknown. The four where known as the Marauders. They where pranksters who went much further than the Weasley twins of today. One of their main targets was Slytherin house and more often than not myself. I have no good memories of your father to share. James Potter was a show-off and a braggart. He kept ruffling his hair whenever a group of girls where near. He would steal a snitch from the quidditch lock-up and play with it in full view of everyone else. He became fixated on your mother since their first train ride. I was your mother's friend before then and that was probably a reason I was targeted by your father's mocking and pranks. He used to call me Snivellus, a name I detest. His pranks became more infrequent in seventh year, that was when he started dating your mother, but they never went away completely. I am afraid that you will hear nothing positive from me about him though he was fairly successful in transfiguration as I recall." There, he had given him everything without putting too much distaste into his voice.

"You mentioned his three friends. What where they like?" Very well. This would be short however.

"Sirius Black, who is now in Azkaban, the wizarding prison, was the first Gryffindor from a long line of Slytherins steeped in the dark arts. He despised Slytherin as a matter of course and was your father's best friend. He was imprisoned for betraying your parents to the dark lord, a great shock to us all, and killing Pettigrew when the fool tried to confront him. Pettigrew was the hanger on of the group. He looked up to the others in hero worship, he was their lapdog for want of a better term. He was a rather inadequate student and often required help. Remus Lupin was quiet and studious, rather similar to Miss Granger of your year without the bossy and over-bearing nature. He was reserved and quiet. He may not have actively initiated any pranks but he was one of those who helped research them or simply did nothing. He disappeared, apparently in grief after your parents' death." That should satisfy him. This was bringing up several unpleasant memories.

"And my mother?" Ah, at last. He had fond memories of her. In fact almost all of his fond memories involved her.

"She was my best friend. She cared not for the rivalry between houses and remained my friend until the end of fifth year and I completely ruined the only friendship I have ever truly cared about. She had a fiery temper and suffered no fools. Though your father was enamoured with her she didn't want anything to do with him. Only when he deflated his head somewhat did that happen. She was a genius with charms and my only real competition in potions. She was intelligent and beautiful with the most intense green eyes. I miss her still. She was friends with Alice Nettles who married Frank Longbottom and Sarah Walker who married Edgar Bones, the aunt and uncle of your house mate of that name." That brought a small smile to Severus' face. Lily had been the best thing to ever happen to him.

"Thank you professor. It's good to hear something that doesn't simply consist of 'they where wonderful people' which seems to be all I've heard so far." Harry nodded his head and left the room leaving Snape remembering the past. He reached out a hand and picked up a vial. He took the top off it and examined the potion within.

"Outstanding work. This one will be heading to the Hospital wing." He put down the vial. On the side was written 'H. Potter'.

xxxxx

Harry spent the rest of the day thinking about what Professor Snape had said. He had asked several of the teachers about them already. He knew James was good at transfiguration and a prankster, he knew that Lily was good at charms and potions but what he had heard most was 'they where damn good people' which didn't really tell him anything. He had found their names on the list of previous head boys and girls in the trophy room and his father's name could also be found on a quidditch trophy. Snape had given him the most complete and probably the most accurate picture of them he was likely to get.

Harry wandered around outside. He walked around the lake and to the edge of the forest. He sat himself at the shore of the lake with the edge of the forest no more than ten feet away. The castle looked rather picturesque even in daylight. Len crawled into his lap and Harry began to run his hands through her fur. They remained as such for several hours before heading back to the castle for the evening meal. Harry did not pay much attention to what he ate. His eyes flickered towards the teacher's table, specifically to the potions master. Professor Snape looked as calm and collected as he usually did. The only indication that something was different was a slight furrowing of his brow and the slightly distant look in his eyes. Snape looked up as he felt someone's eyes on him and looked towards the Hufflepuff table to find a rather melancholic looking Harry Potter. He gave an almost imperceptible nod to him which Harry returned.

It was that evening when Harry was sat on his bed with Len curled up behind him did he speak. He addressed the sorting hat. "Alistair, can you tell me anything about my parents?"

"Me? No, I can't. I was on their heads when they where sorted but so many other students have been too. It all becomes one big mess in my memory. I do remember the house elves mentioned your father often. He seemed to cause them a fair bit of work cleaning up pranks." Alistair replied. Harry paused for a moment.

"You've mentioned house elves several times now. What are they?" Harry was curious and really needed to take his mind of its current track.

"They're essentially servants that bind themselves to a magical environment or individual to sustain their existence. In return they do all kinds of menial labour from cooking and cleaning to purchasing shopping and other things. You can find most of the Hogwarts ones in the kitchens." Harry wondered what other magical beings there where. These house elves hadn't been in his Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them but then again they where apparently intelligent beings. He had not found them mentioned in other books, not even Hogwarts: A History which he would suspect if there was such a large population of them here.

"And how do I get to the kitchens?" He didn't expect an answer. The hat after all wasn't connected to the school in any way.

"That I can tell you! Many a headmaster has gone for a midnight snack you can be sure. It is behind a painting of a bowl of fruit. All you need to do is tickle the pear to get in." Harry stared at the hat.

"I walk passed that painting every day! This is too easy but at least I know where to go to bake Len's cake for her birthday on Monday now." Harry leaned back and began running his hand through the hair of the sleeping succubus. "Well, I'm calling it a night." He grabbed Alistair and set him on his head before climbing into bed proper.

xxxxx

The next morning Harry awoke quite excited. He would be going home today! He took Alistair off his head "I'll be away until Sunday evening so there's no point in coming tonight. I will see you tomorrow. Goodbye!" Harry rapidly dressed and turned to Len "Are you ready? I might finally get to spar with Bazett again. It's been a week since she beat me to a pulp. I need to keep training to even have a chance of matching her." Len smiled and switched to her cat form before alighting on his shoulder. Harry wasted no time in reaching for the kaleidoscope and disappearing silently.

They arrived in his room at the clock tower and quickly headed through the doors to the sitting room. Stheno was reading a book on the last world war. She looked up, over the top of her book and asked "So how was your week?"


	9. A Calm Weekend

AN: I still don't have a beta so if anyone cares for the position then please message me. In this chapter I decided to keep things rather light to start with but it also features another side of the same time period from another point of view. Most weekends won't be this detailed but I thought the very first one deserved it. I was watching random anime and if you can identify what two shows I was watching when I wrote this then an internet cookie for you.

The pace should pick up a bit from now on focusing more on more major events than everyday stuff but don't expect the year to be over in a chapter or two, there's still a lot more to come. I'm already planning out a couple of action scenes for those who need something a little more. It won't be particularly intense or anything but it'll be more than slice of life at least.

For now enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 9 – A Calm Weekend

Harry collapsed on a sofa. How was his week? He had put on a mask of curiosity and interest but he was frazzled. He had ignored all of the damn staring and questions that followed him around the corridors. The best thing about being in Hufflepuff so far had been how quickly his house mates had caught on. He was NOT answering any questions on whether he remembered his parents' murderer, his hair colour, his blindfold or ANYTHING personal. The Ravenclaws had been the worst, they seemed to have an incessant need for answers that was irritating him beyond reason. The Gryffindors had given him betrayed looks like 'why is the almighty Harry Potter, defeater of dark lords not in the house of reckless idiots' or something like that. Right now Harry was feeling rather fond of the Slytherins. If he ignored the glares from ferret boy then the house had left him alone as a matter of course. He had been paired with a girl named Tracy Davis in their Monday charms practical and found, aside from being a mine of gossip, she was a rather amiable person, she was most certainly ambitious if her desire to become the first female chief warlock was real. Len had liked her as well when Tracy had lavished attention on the 'cute little mischief maker' as she had put it.

Harry had enjoyed his interactions with Hermione thus far but the girl really needed to get a life. Coming from him this was saying something. The girl spent every minute of her spare time cross-referencing all of the sources she could get her hands on. Harry had actually managed to get a word for word copy of the History lessons for the next seven years. That showed how up to date Professor Binns was when he had died in the mid-eighteenth century. It also explained why he focused on goblin rebellions so much, they had just come out of one in eighteen sixty-three.

There was another thing that pissed him off, the teachers had expectations of him based on his parents. When he had completed his first transfiguration in class the professor had said "You are your father's child, he was amazing at transfiguration." It was like he was expected to be good because James Potter had been. Professor Flitwick had also said "Your mother's charms where some of the best I've ever seen, no wonder you have some talent." when he had done the same in charms class. It was like everyone expected him to be this amazing wonder boy who combined the best traits of two people they had fond memories of and he had let them down by not being so. They seemed to be disappointed with him in Hufflepuff instead of Gryffindor, they seemed put out by his hair colour and they seemed to be confused by his less than social attitude. Harry's favourite professor at present was Snape. He actually liked the fact that the man hated his father, he would push him to prove that he wasn't that man but his own self! He had accepted that though his name was Potter he wasn't some clone of his father. He wasn't some social butterfly intent on charming all the girls out of their knickers. He might be smart but he was methodical and persistent rather than simply having an intuitive grasp of things like his mother.

Harry sighed and looked over to the left. There was a door there that led to a japanese style shrine in there. Alysa, the snake that had come from the shapeless isle, had died a year and a half after coming here. She had been old already and had had a number of eggs in her life, she decided to look after what she viewed as her 'last brood' as she had seen it. It had been funny to see Stheno, the eldest and most serious of them get chastised by an overly large snake because she needed to eat all of her breakfast. Harry gave a wistful smile, he had been the youngest and, in Alysa's opinion, the one she needed to coddle the most. He remembered when she had turned up to his school, it had been hilarious when she had slithered into the classroom with his forgotten lunch in her mouth which she dropped on his desk before firmly reprimanding him and then leaving, the teacher had remained stock-still the entire time and her eyes had only widened when Harry had hissed back to her. It was probably that incident that made everyone wary of him back then. They had been cordial but distant.

Harry brought his focus back to the now and looked over at Stheno, she was another constant in his young life. While at home he, Stheno and Euryale had conversed almost completely in parseltongue when alone, his speech now contained a slight hiss if anyone cared to listen to it, they had spoken of how they remembered the world and how it had changed, they told him of the myths and legends of their time and compared them to how they had been recorded. They'd had fun poking holes in a number of the legends about great heroes. Herakles, Hercules name as it should be, had apparently completed a number of his tasks by trickery instead of brute strength as portrayed. It gave Harry a new appreciation of how publicity worked. In short, he hated it. He hated how the media would portray their darlings as doing no wrong and their new target was exposed to slander when people where primarily just people who had successes and mistakes both to their name.

"My week was eventful, learned a charm to make sparks and another for light. I Learned to turn a match into a needle, the knockback jinx and a minor stinging spell as well. How was yours?" He was so NOT going to mention the whispers that followed him in the corridors and the incessant questions about his lack of scar, his forehead emblem, his blindfold and his hair. It was simply an annoyance that would pass, nothing more.

"I have been accepted as a history teacher at a local school. I'm looking forward to doing something productive now that people won't either try and rape me or run in fear." She said the last part rather bitterly. Harry winced, it had been men seeking them out that had led to Medusa's descent into anger and hatred. At least she had a job now, she could keep herself occupied and would interact with the modern world. She had been the slower of the two sisters to acclimatise to the modern era. Euryale seemed to slip in without much effort.

"That's pretty cool. I'm sue it'll keep you busy. Where's Euryale? She's not usually awake yet," That was true, since moving to the clock tower Euryale had been sleeping later and later. She claimed she couldn't resist the comfy beds. A slight frown marred Stheno's brow before she sighed.

"Our irascible sister has devised her next prank. I have already told Waver to avoid the northern end of the clock tower today, I would say the same to Zelretch but he seems to enjoy her antics." That was also true, Harry seriously didn't want to see the results if the two of them ever teamed up.

The two of them sat and talked for hours. It was something Harry was rather fond of. He could remember the two sisters telling him bedtime stories. They spoke of heroes and villains, monsters and gods and always in parseltongue. Harry wondered if he kept speaking it would his hissing speech become more noticeable.

xxxxx

It was several hours of general conversation later that something new happened, though that something being a flying body that knocked him out of his seat was not exactly expected.

"Harry!" A familiar voice cried from above him. Harry shook the grogginess from his system and looked up into a pair of warm crimson eyes.

"Hey there Arc, it's nice to see you though I could do without the flying body tackle." He grinned up at her sheepish look and waited while she climbed off of him before getting to his feet and dusting himself off.

Sitting back on the sofa with Arcueid now beside him Harry finally felt truly comfortable for the first time since getting on that damn train. Hogwarts may be amazing with all the glamours of magic and all that but that was no comparison to those he considered family and friends. These people where irreplaceable to him. He would give up any and all forms of magic in an instant if the alternative was living without them. With gramps Zelretch, uncle Waver and Stheno and Euryale as some sort of sister aunt hybrid his dysfunctional family was the only one he cared about.

"Hey Harry, let's go on an adventure!" Said boy eyed the ditzy true ancestor warily. Whenever she got like this something was sure to happen. He would blame Zelretch if it wasn't for that time when the Wizard Marshall also got caught up in the incident involving four gallons of chocolate fondue and the pigeons, that was just wrong!

"Very well Arc, let's go." He, however, knew when something was inevitable and one thing he had learned was that when Arcueid Brunestud wanted to have fun then have fun she shall. The two of them, plus Len who was again perched on Harry's shoulder, got up and left Harry's quarters after bidding a fond fair well to Stheno, who had returned to her book.

They wandered into the main part of the clock tower but nothing seemed to hold Arc's attention for very long. She dragged him outside much to the amusement of Zelretch whom they passed in a corridor, smarmy git.

"Well then, we're outside now where do we go?" He shouldn't have asked. Arcueid's eyes got that damned twinkle in them that promised '_fun'_.

xxxxx

Well, Harry thought when he made it back to the clock tower that evening, it could have been worse. They had eventually ended up at an amusement park and Arc had dragged him to all the rides he was tall enough for which, to him, was an unfortunate number. He was just thinking everything would go fine before they came across a cosplay contest. With his long hair, pale skin and refined features Harry found himself forced into the most ridiculous magical girl outfit imaginable. It's frills had frills, it was a horrible creation of white and pink that deserved to burn in the furthest depths of hell. Unfortunately they won, Harry in the weird dress thing and Arcueid as a police officer. The males certainly seemed fond of her at least but dammit if he couldn't get rid of the women cooing over him. For winning the contest they received one hundred pounds and got to keep the costumes. Arc hid his clothes so he was forced to wear that abomination for the rest of the day.

He was grumbling under his breath when he walked into his quarters and jumped out of his skin when he was blinded by a camera flash. Looking up he saw Waver with a camera in his hands and an evil grin on his face. Zelretch was drinking from a wine glass containing a deep red liquid, either blood or wine he couldn't tell, Stheno and Euryale where sat side by side on the sofa with Stheno reprimanding her sister for the chaos she had caused that day with a surreal number of jam doughnuts. A giggle in the corner made Harry turn and his eye started twitching again. There stood Altrouge with a smirk plastered on her face with her shoulders shaking from laughter.

"That's it. I hate you all!" Harry harrumphed and collapsed on the nearest chair with his arms crossed. That broke the damn and everyone started laughing. Even Stheno shook her head and chuckled at it.

"So what's your plans for tomorrow my fair magical girl? Are we saving the world with the power of love and friendship or are you one of those magical girls that only works on weekdays?" Harry would so kill Zelretch if he didn't know he hadn't a chance. He had to be careful in case Zelretch DID decide to drop him in a world where magical girls are real.

"My plans involve getting a large number of glass egg cups for an extra-curricular potions project and getting a copper cauldron as the pewter ones at school still have lead in them. I would also like to get my hands on about a dozen mannequins with hands and fingers so my charms teacher can enchant them for a sparring session. I need a damn opponent, just exercises are useless." Harry complained.

"Potions project?" Waver looked intrigued

"Yeah. The wizarding world apparently has never heard of reactionary tables. I'm using glass egg cups because: one, they're cheap, two, glass is non-reactive and three, I want to practice the engorgio and reducio charms to alter their size. They only need to be about the size of a small bowl for testing." Harry grinned as he saw an intrigued look in Waver's eye.

"When something is enlarged are you creating matter? Does it disappear eventually? Is there limits on what you can do?" Harry thought that Waver and Hermione would get along if they ever met.

"In the wizarding world if you have something you can make more of it. It does not disappear but anything alive will shrink again because for some reason magic acts differently on living beings. Yes there are laws of transfiguration. You're talking about those that deal with conjuration. Conjuration allows the creation of any object within limitations. One is raw magical power. It takes a lot of power to conjure anything at all. The second is the material, some materials have a resistance to being affected by magic, precious metals are an extreme example though no one knows why. The complexity and intricacy of the item also has to be taken into account. It would take far more energy to summon a dagger with an engraved handle than a plain broadsword. You can also not conjure anything described as food. Liquids however are free game. There is a water spell called aquamenti that acts rather like a hose. I could summon apple juice too which I am going to learn as soon as I can because pumpkin juice is horribly sweet!" Harry made a face at the last bit. Why the wizards had something like that as the standard beverage he would never know.

"Forgetting all the mumbo jumbo, how has school been outside classes?" Stheno asked.

"I don't like all the staring I get. The Hufflepuffs, that's my house, the one of loyalty and hard work, learned that I don't like being asked personal questions after a few days. The Ravenclaws seem to think of me as a puzzle the HAVE to solve and I can't seem to shake them. The oh so brave and mighty Gryffindors seem to think I have betrayed them by not being a rash idiot like them and the Slytherins seem to be leaving me be for now." Harry told them.

"How are the Professors? Any problems there?" Stheno asked again, she was always the most concerned.

"The professors seem to expect me to do well because my parents did. James Potter was amazing at transfiguration so I should automatically be. Lily Potter was thinking about a charms mastery therefore I must like charms too. The potions professor is my favourite so far. Snape said he'll hold me to whatever potions I produce in class. I cheated a little and reinforced the ingredients so I should do okay there. Apart from those three examples there ain't much to say." He leaned back into the cushions and Len landed in his lap and curled up into him.

"There is some weird stuff though. I can touch ghosts which is supposed to be impossible. I've made friends with the resident ghost of Ravenclaw, the grey lady but she said to call her Helena. The sorting hat by which we are separated into houses is sentient and I have become acquainted with him, he's called Alistair. There is also one Gryffindor, Hermione Granger, who isn't too bad. I've rubbed off on her a bit but she asks so many questions too. I think you'd like her uncle Waver. There's another Gryffindor, Neville Longbottom, if he can get over his nerves he may make a good friend." He mumbled, feeling a little sleepy.

"No problem students are there? With being famous I'd have thought someone would be jealous at least." Stheno gave him a critical glance and he knew it was useless to lie to her, she always saw right through him.

"Two. One Gryffindor and one Slytherin. Ronald Weasley AKA Weasel and Draco Malfoy AKA Ferret respectively. Each one will probably boil over before the month is out. The Weasel seems to think I'm dark and evil because I'm not his friend and I'm wary of Dumbledore. The Ferret thinks that unless I kiss his feet then he has no use for someone that isn't an in-bred fool. Add the fact I showed him up on the train and he'll be looking for revenge too." Not that Harry cared, he could probably take them out in his sleep, he also would not suffer fools easily.

"Just be careful Harry, It is best not to make enemies unnecessarily." Stheno warned. Harry nodded before getting up off the sofa and heading to his room to change out of this ridiculous costume. He hated having ribbons in his hair!

When Harry returned in more appropriate attire they talked of what his classes where like and what sort of magic he enjoyed. He told them that he thought transfiguration seemed to be rather flexible if he ever managed free transfiguration which was NEWT level stuff. He'd read about silent casting and was trying to get in the habit of murmuring spells instead of screaming them aloud as others had been. He was rather indifferent to herbology, he would understand them better as ingredients. Potions was something he was keen on. The thought of the various effects he could produce ready for use whenever necessary was a good idea to him, it would conserve prana for when it was really needed. Harry was disappointed that he couldn't study runes until third year. Runes used less energy than a wand and if you chained and layered enough runes then you could get pretty much any effect you could with a wand without the hassle of it failing because the runes would enforce the effects themselves.

Harry went to bed rather late that night as they had talked well into the evening. He was happy to be back amongst those he cared for and wondered if he would ever bring someone home to meet them. He chuckled sleepily as he imagined Hermione's reaction to dimension travel and alternate forms of magic. She would be so frustrated that without magic circuits she wouldn't be able to perform any of it.

xxxxx

The next morning Harry got up rather groggily. He rolled out of bed and towards the bathroom to freshen himself up. After he had splashed water into his face he grinned. He was home, the place he would always consider to be his origins regardless of the fact he had been born in another world. He set off down towards where the enforcers practised hoping Bazett was there today.

She was and she readily agreed to spar with him or as she put it 'Pummel a kid into the ground until he knew how to stay up'. Granted she did have a point as that was what happened. Harry would focus on speed and reactions while Bazett was a more balanced fighter. Harry viewed this as his best way to fight and it suited him. He had studied anatomy books on where pressure points and joints where. He thought that if he could get said weak points then all the strength in the world wouldn't matter, problem being was that while he was focused on speed and was slightly faster than Bazett, she didn't really leave many openings and her experience allowed her to react to fast for him to act on it. He always wasn't experienced enough to reliably hit said pressure points which resulted in another victory for Bazett even if she did end up rather sweaty and dishevelled from the workout he gave her.

Getting up from the floor again Harry said goodbye to Bazett as he headed to shower before heading out of the clock tower. He was looking to get those egg cups for his potions project. He was looking forward to the extra lessons to fill in his time. He hated doing nothing and because of his reading of books for the last couple years he had a solid grounding in theory so homework wasn't much of a problem especially as he hadn't received any yet.

Outside he wandered off towards the nearest supermarket thinking that was his best bet for such things. On the way he passed a clothing store and stopped. In the window was the dummies dressed in the latest fashions. Those would be perfect if he could find where he could get some. He would ask on the way home if they knew where he could purchase some.

At the supermarket itself Harry didn't end up purchasing egg cups. He bought glass tumblers instead. They would work just as well as enlarged egg cups and why he didn't think of that before he had no idea. The cashier did give him an odd look and Harry couldn't tell if it was because of the number of tumblers he was buying or if it was the way he dressed. Harry didn't care, he just got on with it.

He received another odd look at the clothes shop when he asked about where they got there mannequins but they gave him a number to ring in any case. Thankfully the clock tower had an address that could be delivered to, some magi did order materials from the mundane world after all and bulk orders couldn't exactly be handled by hand.

Back at the clock tower Harry put his purchases in his room before looking at the bookcases that made said room look like a miniature library. He couldn't exactly pop back to the clock tower every time he had a question so he decided to take his books one set of shelves at a time and lined his room at Hogwarts with them. He kept all those that would be considered dark or illegal back but that still amounted to a large number of books he now had ready access to. He dumped the tumblers onto his Hogwarts bed before utilising the kaleidoscope to go to Diagon Alley.

When he arrived in Diagon Alley Harry was glad that the shops where pretty much all open. He headed to where he had purchased his cauldron to enquire why it had lead the pewter. It turned out that the wizards hadn't changed the composition of their pewter when the muggles had since the worlds had separated and was completely unaware of the effects it would have with potions. Harry purchased a copper cauldron which wouldn't react and didn't contain any toxic material in it. The owner of the shop told him he would inform the suppliers about what Harry had told him so that hopefully this could be avoided in future. Harry thought he was just saving his business, he could be sued if people had gotten lead poisoning and the like from cauldrons he had sold.

Returning home in the late afternoon with a cauldron under one arm Harry came face to face with an unamused Len. She hadn't liked that he had left her sleeping while he went out to do everything he had today. He told her he would bake her favourite snacks to appease her and her eyes lit up at that. Thank goodness for bribery Harry thought as he put the cauldron down on his bed and set off for the small kitchenette that was a part of their quarters.

He spent the rest of the afternoon and evening baking a large amount of snacks giving a number of them to Len but storing the rest in the fridge for everyone else if they ever needed a snack and taking a few for himself. Watching Len devour cookie after cookie definitely put a smile on his face though. He loved to make stuff for her and everyone else. That reminded him of Shirou, that boy he'd met years ago. He wondered if he would meet him again and if he'd be up to a cooking contest which they'd failed to have when he had been in Fuyuki that time.

Harry and Len returned to Hogwarts that night to be ready for lessons in the morning completely unaware of the panic they'd incited in one individual much to a certain hat's amusement.

xxxxx

Dumbledore had NOT had a peaceful weekend. He had determined it was time to impress on Harry his grandfatherly persona and that a 'chance' meeting in the corridors on a weekend would be the perfect occasion. He went down to breakfast that morning and frowned when Harry didn't turn up, perhaps the boy slept late on weekends. It would be odd as he had heard that Harry was an early riser that exercised out by the lake on mornings. He waited until lunch to see if Harry would turn up but was further disappointed. The boy might be engrossed in a book as the library was where he spent a fair amount of time when not in a classroom, rather anti-social, especially for a Hufflepuff.

Madame Pince had apparently not seen the boy. This was worrying. He decided that he would try and see if Harry was in his room. He could play the concerned professor and ask how things where. Harry had barely interacted with anyone bar miss Granger of Gryffindor and seemed to have earned the enmity of both the Weasley and Malfoy children in his year. The Malfoy one was understandable as he was a child of a death eater and would see Mr. Potter as opposition though that really should have been tempered by the boy being in Hufflepuff, though why he was there Dumbledore was clueless. According to Minerva he saw nothing wrong with killing and Albus had been afraid that the child would end up in Slytherin. He supposed if the kills where in self-defence or some such then the hat might put him in Gryffindor and Dumbledore would be able to erase the harm whatever childhood he'd had had done to his psyche. The Weasley boy on the other hand was more worrying. The Weasleys had always been firm supporters of the light and it was rather damaging to a reputation if he was being constantly derided as the next dark lord. Thankfully others in the house of lions seemed to be ignoring most of this, they had been a bit put out on loosing the boy-who-lived but surely, a Hufflepuff dark lord? Such a dark lord would probably hand out candy to orphaned children than wage war.

It was a little unnerving though, the way that Harry didn't seem to embody an ordinary Hufflepuff attitude. The house of loyalty and hard work it may be but Hufflepuffs had a reputation for being friendly, helpful and sociable. Dumbledore had no idea how he was doing in classes as staff meetings happened at the end of every month but the portraits had told him, while cordial to anyone who was to him, the boy did not seek out friendship. When not exercising or in the library he was apparently in his room. The boy spent all his time with that damned cat, it even went to most lessons with him and Minerva had mentioned how that feline put her on edge. Dumbledore knew an animagus had instincts as sharp as their animal and he was wary of anything that would set her inner cat off.

xxxxx

When Dumbledore entered the Hufflepuff common room everyone there stopped and looked at him, shocked. Here was the headmaster himself, the great Albus Dumbledore in the common room of the 'duffers'. He looked around himself and decided to see what sort of reputation Harry had in his won house.

"Hello all. Just a little visit, I am worried about a few students. Normally this isn't Hufflepuff but can I ask how young Harry Potter is settling in." Everyone looked at each other before a male prefect spoke up.

"I was there when we first came in to the common room. He seemed worried about the painting and if it would do something to his cat. That cat goes everywhere with him except herbology and potions." The boy looked around himself as if to gather support.

"Yeah, I've seen that cat on his shoulders when he's in the library. It looks like it's reading the book with him." Another voice called out of the crowd.

"There was the time when He seemed to be having a conversation with it and it nodded its head too, I don't think it's a normal cat and I've never seen a kneazle like it." From there a few more students chimed in about the cat until one broke that pattern.

"Harry is polite enough but I think he's only ever started a conversation with Granger in Gryffindor and I think I saw him talking to the grey lady too. It was damn weird but he seems alright. He definitely works hard in lesson. He's so far been first in spell work and he knows his theory. I think I saw him with the standard book of spells grade three a couple days ago." This was intriguing. A Hufflepuff work ethic with a Ravenclaw knowledge base. It was a shame it was coupled with such an anti-social attitude.

"Ah, I see," Dumbledore eventually interrupted. "Does anyone know where he is?" He looked towards the younger Hufflepuff boys, if he was in his room they would know. The boys looked at each other.

"His door has been shut since Friday night. I don't think he's been out since. He gets up ridiculously early though so I can't say for certain." One of them said, Wayne Hopkins if Dumbledore remembered right.

"Very well. Could one of you show me to his room and I'll see if he's in." He requested and the boy who answered his last question nodded and led him towards the rooms the first year boys occupied. Internally Dumbledore was worried. This little social interaction was not good, he needed the boy to be seen not hidden away. The weird colours the boy displayed helped draw attention to him but Harry refused to answer any personal questions. No one knew anything about him aside from things that had happened since September first unless it was something minor like his favourite colours, which happened to be black, purple and silver apparently.

They came to the first years rooms and Dumbledore saw that two of them bore two names each while one simple had Harry as an occupant. Dumbledore frowned, it was two to a room but Hufflepuff currently had an odd number of students, he wondered if he could wangle it so Harry had a dorm mate next year regardless of odds or evens, he needed an in to Harry's private life dammit! Reaching for the door handle Dumbledore suddenly had a feeling of foreboding, as if he really shouldn't open the door. He checked himself and pulled back. As soon as he was away from the door the feeling disappeared. He reached forward again and the sense of foreboding returned. Dumbledore was confused, he did not realise that this was one of the first bounded fields on the room to prevent entry to those without permission.

Finally getting a grip on the door handle, and trying to ignore his desire to just leave it be, Dumbledore tried to turn the door knob but it stayed still. He tried again and again. He even tried an unlocking charm but that seemed to have no effect.

"Mr. Potter, if you are in there open up. If you are do not I am afraid I will have to blast this door down." The students that had followed Dumbledore started to get excited. It was not everyday that something like this happened.

Getting no reply Dumbledore pointed his wand at the door "Bombarda!"

The spell had absolutely no effect.

Dumbledore's brow creased again. He fired a few more spells at the door which also did nothing. Could Harry have warded his door? It would need knowledge of runes that he should not possess but that was the thing. Dumbledore had no idea where Harry had been for six years. He could have been learning anything, he could have learnt the dark arts for all he knew and Dumbledore hated not knowing anything. He could not feel anything that felt like a ward on the door though he did feel some form of magic energy there. What he was feeling he didn't know. It was like someone had taken raw magic and formed it to their will. That was impossible of course, not even he could do that without a structured spell and if Albus Dumbledore couldn't then no eleven year old would ever accomplish it. He turned to the students that had followed him and decided to play the mystery card.

"It seems Hogwarts hasn't taken too well to me trying to force entry. If Harry decides to leave his room any time today or tomorrow could you please let him know I would like to see him." Dumbledore gave an internal cheer as he saw the nodding heads in front of him. Now he had a foothold in Hufflepuff that wasn't based on being headmaster of the school. Hufflepuffs where kind and friendly as a rule and they would now see him as a kindly and worried professor concerned for a child's well-being rather than an old man that had just tried to force his way into a young boy's room despite that being technically accurate.

xxxxx

As he left Dumbledore cast the point me spell. Originally this spell pointed north and nowhere else but with a little modification it could point to anything you wanted. Aiming to find Harry Potter, the boy he'd spent most of the day searching for via more conventional means, Dumbledore was surprised when he got no reaction from his wand. It was like Harry Potter simply didn't exist in this world. Worrying over what that meant Dumbledore hurried to his office where he checked the book of students and sighed when he found no date of death beside the name Harry Potter. He flickered backwards through the pages until he reached the students of fifty years before. He sighed as he looked at the name Tom Riddle, there was no date of death there, proof that the Dark Lord Voldemort still lived. He couldn't share that information though. No one would believe him. The only connection between Voldemort and Tom Riddle was hearsay and rumour, nothing firm and as such would not work as actual evidence.

Dumbledore remembered Tom Riddle when he visited the lad in an orphanage. He had been vindictive and cruel, Dumbledore had tried to scare that out of him but he had obviously failed. Tom Riddle had had a taste of power over others and he had felt Dumbledore's power over him. He coveted the former and hated the latter. What Dumbledore had shown the impressionable child was that power could be used to subdue and terrify others and that was a lesson he should never have been taught. He latched onto it, he learned what he could throughout school, he became a teacher's favourite, someone they wouldn't mind giving a little extra to and he gathered everything to himself and used it.

Dumbledore remembered Tom Riddle and the path he took. He felt Harry was walking a similar path and was determined that he would set him on the right path. Harry needed to be the beacon of the light, he had to be. If he wasn't then all was lost and Voldemort would win when next he arose. That was unacceptable. Whatever it took to bring Harry to the side he truly belonged would be worth it. He needed to cement himself as the boy's mentor and he needed to fix the friction between him and Ronald Weasley, a complete and truly light family. The Weasleys had a girl around Harry's age. A marriage contract between them and himself as Harry's magical guardian would be fully legal. Yes, that was it. If they where to be brothers in later years then they would get over their differences. He would do that at Gringotts tomorrow. Molly would be delighted that her daughter would snag the boy-who-lived and Arthur never went against his wife. He had tried to direct the young Ronald towards Harry Potter on the train but that had obviously failed and the idiot boy had even implicated him in it. His legilimency scan of the youngest Weasley make found four things, an inferiority complex from having successful older brothers, a rather ridiculous appetite, a really bad work ethic and a great jealousy of Harry Potter. The first three he could live with but that jealousy would get in the way.

Dumbledore went to sleep that night with plans to bring the boy-who-lived into the fold of which he was shepherd and completely forgot that he wasn't presently in the castle. He imagined the accolades he would gain when he was recognised as the brilliant mentor of the boy-who-lived, the way everyone fell into line when Voldemort was taken down for good. He would be able to lead the wizarding world into a truly bright future, he simply needed to get control of Harry Potter.

xxxxx

The next morning Dumbledore started drafting up a marriage contract between the ward of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, by name Harry James Potter and the daughter of Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley nee Prewitt, by name Ginerva Weasley. There was all sorts of legalese that went into such contracts that he included but the gist of it was that both parties would be wed on or before the seventeenth birthday of the younger one. In the case of the death of either party before the marriage ceremony all personal property became the property of the other, this last bit was standard to such a contract, and with the signatures of those with magical guardianship of said parties the contract became legally and magically binding. He was the magical guardian of Harry Potter since the sealing of the will and Molly Weasley was the magical guardian of Ginerva being the female parent of a female magical.

The hat looked on in amusement. It knew something that the esteemed headmaster didn't and was having to hold in its laughter. He only let it out when Dumbledore had flooed away to The Burrow and the portraits in the room along with Fawkes looked at the hat as if it had finally lost it.

"What are you laughing about?" It was Armando Dippet, the former headmaster who decided to ask the madly laughing piece of head wear.

"Oh just our dear headmaster's cluelessness, that marriage contract simply won't work." Alistair went back to his mad giggling while the portraits all looked at one another. It was Dilys Derwent who was elected spokesperson.

"We find the current headmaster's actions regarding the boy in question rather disturbing. We've considered not relating what the portraits throughout the castle can tell him but that would make him suspicious as we have always done so. Care to tell us what the headmaster is clueless about?" The hat calmed down enough to reply to the portrait.

"As he will find out when he goes to Gringotts to get the official seal he is in fact not the boy's magical guardian. He hasn't been for six years now. That will certainly put a kink in his beard, especially as he has no means of reaching the one who replaced him and it was done completely legally too. Mr. Potter's memories where certainly interesting I can tell you that." The hat looked over to the portraits and saw a few grins here and there. The magic binding him not to speak of what was inside a student's head did not stop him pointing out flaws in others as long as it had no information that wasn't beyond guardianship and their previous grades.

Looking over at Fawkes, Alistair was surprised. The phoenix looked to be ashamed unless he was reading him wrong. Fawkes had tried to steer Albus right again and again. He had started out such a bright boy with such promising intentions and the power to back them up. Fawkes had been with the Dumbledore since nineteen thirty-eight, that was fifty three years ago that they bonded. After his falling out with Grindlewald, Albus had taken it upon himself to become a teacher and, in politic circles at least, he became known as a voice advocating peace and non-violence. That was when the two had bonded but, over the years, Dumbledore had slipped occasionally. Few knew how close Dumbledore had come to killing Grindlewald in nineteen forty-five and taking his pent up aggression out on the man's followers. Only Fawkes' song had prevented that. There where other slips as well but that was the biggest, each time Fawkes calmed him and drew him back but even he seemed upset with his bonded's actions. The bird seemed to regain itself a little when told that Dumbledore's current plan would fail. Fawkes cawed softly as if in resignation and the room fell silent waiting for Dumbledore's return.

xxxxx

When Dumbledore had flooed away he had ended up in the place that the Weasleys called home, the Burrow. Taking a step out of the fireplace he called "Hello, is anyone home?" There was a scuffle and soon enough Molly and Arthur Weasley had appeared in the doorway.

"Ah, come in headmaster, is there anything we can get for you, a cup of tea maybe?" Molly was soon ushering Dumbledore into the kitchen and had the kettle on for some tea before he had a chance to refuse. Molly had always been like that, she directed everything in her home and screeched at what wouldn't do as she says until it did. Arthur was a lot more laid back and it was quite obvious who wore the pants in their relationship.

"The twins haven't done something terrible have they? Oh, I just knew that those terrors needed a good telling off before they got on the train. They have no decency and I really need to put them over my knee, they aren't to old for it and they will be spanked for it." She was already off on how she was going to punish them even before he had said anything. She was very domineering. It was no wonder her eldest two had left the country looking for work. Her third son Percy seemed to be as close to ideal as she could get.

"This isn't about the twins Molly, nor is it about any of your others currently in Hogwarts. I am not here as the headmaster. Would you care to read this?" So saying he placed the contract on the table between them. Molly stopped abruptly and looked at it. Her face became slack as she read on before a wide smile broke out on her face and her eyes shone with happiness.

"Oh, I just knew those two where destined for each other. He looks so much like James and Ginny like Lily. It will be their parents romance all over again. She has had so many pretend marriages, she'll be ecstatic. Her favourite bedtime reading is those stories of his. Oh, I'm all aflutter. I knew those two would eventually get together, this shows them how close they will become. The Parkinsons and the Greengrasses think they'll snag him but no, my Ginny WILL be Mrs. Potter!" It looked like Dumbledore would receive no opposition from her as she signed with a blood quill Dumbledore had brought with him. All he needed now was a Gringotts seal to prove he and Molly where the respective guardians of the minors in question and the contract would be magically binding. A betrothal ritual would be preferable to make it unassailable but those could only be done when the two parties had spent at least a year in proximity to one another so it would have to wait until miss Weasley had spent a year at Hogwarts, that would be enough.

"He doesn't look like James but I am sure he will enjoy what your family can offer him Molly. I'm afraid I can't divulge much but what lad could say no to your hospitality? He will surely be very happy with young Ginny and their future will be bright and filled with delightful children too." He was laying it on thick but Molly was just eating it up. Arthur looked resigned at all of it and sat there sipping his tea.

After a fair while spent with an exuberant Molly Weasley, Dumbledore was ready to get the official Gringotts seal. He apparated to Diagon Alley and walked down the alley towards Gringotts. For a moment he could swear he saw Harry himself with a copper cauldron under his arm but after looking again he decided it had to have been a figment of his imagination, the boy after all didn't have the cat that was always with him perched on his shoulder and that was rather distinctive even without his hair colour and blindfold. Dumbledore decided he simply had Harry Potter on the brain and left it at that.

He walked into the lobby of Gringotts and approached a legal counsel desk. He had to wait for the two in front of him to be taken to a separate chamber. When he approached the teller he announced "Albus Dumbledore, magical guardian of Harry Potter. I am here in regards to my wards legal matters." The goblin, ThrustPike if the nameplate was correct, looked up from what he was working on before pulling out a large book and flipping through it.

"The Potters' contact in Gringotts is listed as RipSnout. You would need to see him for anything regarding the Potters." The goblin then called another of its kind to lead Dumbledore to this RipSnout. They walked through an endless labyrinth of corridors that all seemed identical to one another until they ended up before a door. Dumbledore had to steady himself against the wall as he had gotten a little dizzy taking one corner after another at quite a brisk pace, especially for someone over a century old.

He entered the room and walked past the shelves until he came to a goblin sat on a desk. "Excuse me, but would you be RipSnout by any chance? I am Albus Dumbledore and I am here regarding legal matters relating to my ward Harry Potter. You are the boy's contact in Gringotts and I've been directed here to you." RipSnout looked up from his books and regarded the wizard in front of him coolly. He had become the Potter contact after his encounter with Zelretch six years ago. There wasn't much fuss involved with the Potter accounts. He made sure that the money was invested well, he got three percent of any profits so he was motivated to keep them high, and as the only one that turned up on occasion was the amusing Zelretch he didn't have many legal matters to attend to. He had been requested to turn down marriage contracts as standard but to note down the names of those involved as well as the date of application. He was only too happy to do that, the Wizard Marshall had a sense of humour that a goblin could appreciate and he wondered what would happen to those trying to take advantage of the young Mr. Potter. He still decided to play it ignorant for now and follow standard procedure.

"Wait here and I will retrieve the appropriate file." He said before slipping from his chair and heading off for the shelves. He would most certainly take great delight in denying this wizard access to what he wanted. He returned to his desk with the file on Harry Potter. It was quite a bit thicker than it had been six years ago. In it now was the details of his Legal guardian, Zelretch, his primary guardian, Stheno and his godparents Euryale and Waver. There was also a small box inside that would apparently alert Zelretch to something going on if it was ever broken. Opening the file with it tilted towards him so Dumbledore couldn't read it RipSnout paused before looking at the wizard across from him.

"I'm afraid I can not give you access to such information. If that is all you are here for then you will be sorely disappointed." Dumbledore blinked. How could he not have access to the legal details of Harry Potter? He was the child's magical guardian, he'd made sure of that when he'd had that will sealed.

"There must be some sort of mistake, I am Harry's magical guardian in lieu of him having no living magical relatives. I do have access to that file." He kept it polite. Antagonising goblins is never a good idea.

"You are incorrect on that score Mr. Dumbledore. There is listed here a legal guardian, a primary guardian as well as a godmother and godfather all of whom are alive and magical, the magical guardianship is attached to the primary guardian."

Dumbledore knew this had to be a mistake.

"The boy's primary guardian is his muggle aunt, Mrs. Petunia Dursley nee Evans. His Godmother is Alice Longbottom who is a permanent resident of St. Mungo's, His Godfather is Sirius Black the criminal and is locked up in Azkaban. I am his legal guardian and as all others cannot fulfil that role the magical guradianship falls to me as well." The goblin smirked at him and Dumbledore wondered what was coming next. The boy didn't have any blood relations aside from the Dursleys and therefore no one could claim guardianship without going through the Wizengamot and he would know if they had.

"That is not true. His legal guardian is not you, nor are any of the other guardians. They are all blood related to him as well and therefore are completely legal in their guardianship." This left Dumbledore dumbstruck. Harry had four blood relatives! They had to be magical for the goblins to accept them as such. All of the goblins' work was above board. This was an untenable situation. He had to get in contact with these people and either convince them to allow the contract or wrest control of Harry from them.

"How can I get in contact with these people. I must at least speak with the legal guardian about this marriage contract." He had to speak with them about a lot else as well. He had to find out how it was possible that Harry had blood relations amongst other things.

"The legal guardian is named Kischur Zelretch Shweinorg, as you are presenting a legal contract then you may know that. As the headmaster of Hogwarts you may also know of the primary guardian who is named Stheno. That is all I can tell you I'm afraid." Not that the goblin was repentant no. He had been informed when they had come up with the idea of using linked drop boxes to send mail between dimensions. Zelretch had fiddled with them to make that work. Any owl now would drop something in one of them and it would appear in the other. They'd had them set up at just before September so any none emergency mail had a means of getting to them. The goblins where aware of what Harry Potter's guardians where but greek mythology wasn't widespread amongst wizards and he doubted whether Dumbledore even knew of the gorgon myth not to mention the names of Medusa's sisters. He would laugh out loud later with a bottle of good goblin grog tonight just thinking about it.

Dumbledore was in a right to-do as he left Gringotts without that needed seal. He did not recognise either of the names given and if he guessed correctly then neither one of the godparents currently set up for Harry where the ones he was aware of. That was definitely an obstacle to his plans and one he didn't know how to remove. He would send a letter to this Kischur person and endeavour to speak in person so he could get a measure of the man. He would also have to arrange a meeting with this Stheno to see if he could have her declared an unfit guardian and return Harry to the Dursleys. It might be too late for that last move and may in fact be better if he took direct guardianship of the boy. There was a problem as he would have to declare that the boy had living magical relatives and he couldn't just use his position in this case. If he wanted to separate a magical child from their blood kin then he would have to provide a lot of evidence to show that it truly was a bad place to raise a child and that he could do better. The problem in that was that he didn't know where Harry even lived and demanding a home address wouldn't work since the wizarding world used owls addressed to individuals and not locations so he couldn't demand it for contact information.

Dumbledore made it back to his office without making any headway into his problem. He sat himself behind his desk and began to write a letter to his Kischur Shweinorg telling him that a legal matter regarding Harry Potter had come up and that he needed to meet with him immediately. That should get him moving, after all he was Albus Dumbledore and no one ignored him. The second letter was to this Stheno woman, she didn't even have a surname he could use to track her down. At least the legal guardian had a name that seemed German in origin giving him somewhere to begin. He wrote the letter as a concerned professor worried about how Harry interacted with others his age and could he meet with her to discuss how to acclimatise Harry better to Hogwarts. He did admit to some curiosity regarding these individuals. He recognised neither name and he thought he knew all the prominent names in Britain family-wise and the more prominent ones abroad due to the need for his political manoeuvring.

Dumbledore went to bed that night once again forgetting that the target for his schemes was not in the castle. He had too many other things to think about. He had decided against telling Molly that the marriage contract hadn't gone through, he had no wish to be on the receiving end of one of her infamous howlers. He was also thinking of how he could reclaim guardianship of the boy when he now had living magical family members and where the hell these people had come from. He'd paid a trip to Ollivander's as well to confirm that Harry had gotten Fawkes' other wand. He would need it when facing Voldemort, the twin wand effect would be useful and he was sure that Harry alone was destined for that one. He was Voldemort's equal according to the prophecy so he must have a wand that is equal too. He had been surprised when he had found out that Harry had given him the supplies necessary to make the wand and what those parts consisted of. He was horrified when he found the wand would be good for the dark arts. He was shocked as well when he heard that the wand had reacted to him by forming a succubus of all things and one Harry was apparently familiar with. He needed to do something or he didn't think he could drag the young Potter out of the black abyss he was sinking in to.

xxxxx

It was only the following morning that he remembered that the boy had been missing all weekend. He hoped Harry would turn up today as he didn't think that his reputation needed the dent that loosing the boy-who-lived would cause. Add in that it was on Hogwarts grounds which prided itself on being the safest place in Britain and he'd never hear the end of it. He couldn't tell the staff as they would be up in arms and he couldn't exactly get the order together fast enough and quiet enough to be able to find him within the few hours he had.

He rushed up to the owlery to send the two letters he had written last night before coming down the stairs to the great hall. He was just in time to see a sweaty Harry Potter in work out clothes come in through the front doors. He had on a pair of slightly loose canvas trousers that wouldn't impede his movement as well as a t-shirt and for some strange reason a pair of vambraces on his forearms. He wore that Blindfold that he never removed yet didn't seem to hinder his vision that the headmaster was immensely curious about and he had a bow in the end of his hair at about shin height so all of his was together instead of a multitude of loose strands. There was also that trademark cat sat on his shoulder sporting a similar bow to what was in Harry's hair along with two pompoms dangling from it.

He looked at Harry. The time was barely eight and lessons didn't start until a quarter past nine so he could wrangle him here. Then again it would be better if he could make use of the grandfather trick and ask to speak with him after classes today. Yes, that was a better idea. It would also give him more time to draw information out of the boy while he was at it.

"Ah, Harry my dear boy. Would you mind joining myself after classes today? I find that there are things I need to speak to you about."


	10. Interrogations

AN: Alright, I've gotten my thoughts in order about where the next couple of chapters are going to go and someone has agreed to be my Beta so please give thanks to NIX'S WARDEN who is making sure I'm making sense to all of you. In this chapter I got one 'boiling pot' out of the way and furthered another so expect that to blow up in a chapter or two. I am fairly amazed at the rate at which I've gotten this story out. It's only been what? three weeks and this will make it about ninety thousand words. I have had a few thoughts on how the grail war will go when I get there (between third and fourth year) and how I can implement the results into the potterverse without it blowing it completely out of existence. If anyone has any ideas about anything then let me know by review, PM or the new omake thread I added to my forum which can be found either on my profile or at the following address:

forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

For now however please enjoy this chapter.

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 10 – Interrogations.

When Dumbledore asked him to meet him after class Harry simply raised an eyebrow, not that it was very noticeable with the blindfold, and nodded. After he was told where to find the headmaster's office and the password ( Dairy Milk) he headed off for a shower. He was curious what the headmaster wanted, perhaps the old man had noticed he wasn't in the castle over the weekend. It could also be a number of other things as Harry didn't believe for a minute that the headmaster usually got directly involved in student affairs.

Their magical theory lesson expanded upon what magic is and how it interacts with matter in Harry's first period. It was interesting but Harry had already read about it in a fair amount of detail and his attention wandered back to whatever Dumbledore might want to speak about.

This was also true in transfiguration where they where making notes on the difficulty with transfiguring certain materials into certain others. Gold was one thing that could not be transfigured into but no one currently knew why. Harry still had the meeting to come on his mind and Mcgonagall picked up on that. He absently replied with theory they had yet to touch upon without looking up at her. He missed the twitching of her eye and her generally sour expression but the rest of the class didn't and sniggers brought Harry to the present long enough to hear Mcgonagall's mutter of "How the bloody hell he isn't a Ravenclaw I'll never know." This amused Harry and he managed to keep his attention on the lesson until the lunch break.

That afternoon was the charms practical and Harry was having fun with the dancing charm. They where meant to be making a grapefruit tango but Harry had already done that and currently had said mango doing a rather amusing waltz with an orange while an apple, two bananas, a lemon and three kiwi fruit where dancing around an upright pencil in imitation of a traditional maypole dance including string instead of the usual ribbons. Flitwick was ecstatic and gave him twenty points for it. Harry didn't care for the points, this was damn amusing and he wondered what kind of effect this charm would have on a person. The lesson progressed and eventually everyone got at least one piece of fruit dancing but Harry's, that had now grown into some kind of ballroom imitation, had surpassed all others.

Harry was rather disappointed when four o'clock came and the lesson ended. He helped put the fruit away and told Flitwick he was supposed to see the headmaster now. Flitwick said that he would accompany him as far as the gargoyle that guarded his office as it wasn't too for from the staffroom and they set off together. Harry told the professor about the mannequins he was hoping to retrieve by the next weekend and Flitwick replied with how he would have to layer the charms on them and what sort of order they would have to be in, first would be the activation / deactivation charm before layering on the charms that regulated difficulty and then the charms to make it start and stop fighting. After that would be something like computer subroutines that would recognise the weapon in its hand and how to utilise it with the top most charms being the ones that would imitate teamwork when multiple dummies where used before the last spell sealed all of the previous ones to the anchor which, in this case, would be runes that Harry carved consisting of Raido for energy, Uruz for strength, Eihwaz for defence, Teiwaz for warriors, Ehwaz for motion and Berkana for new life.

The two hardly noticed the looks they got in the corridor as they headed for their destination. It was only when they stopped in front of the gargoyle did Harry sheepishly rub the back of his head and apologise to Flitwick who told him that there was no need and he had really enjoyed their conversation before bidding him goodbye and leaving for the staffroom.

xxxxx

"Dairy Milk" Harry enunciated clearly for the gargoyle. He waited while the statue moved to one side before stepping on to the revolving staircase that was spiralling upwards. He reached out with his senses and marvelled at the prana he could feel running through everything around him. He felt the staircase beneath his feet and, unless he was mistaken, it was powered by runes carved into the underside of the steps. Harry waited at the top of the stairs when they stopped, he could feel some kind of bounded field in front of him. Wards where a lot more structured than bounded fields making them that bit more accurate and easily moulded, bounded fields on the other hand where easier to set up and more difficult to destroy. A ward would collapse if you destroyed two many anchors whereas a bounded field did not have physical anchors but covered a predetermined area.

Harry crouched down and looked closely at where the wall met the floor. He grinned. There in front of him was a rather minute rune array that most would not even notice and those that did would think it a scratch or a scuff mark. There was an identification ward separating the moving staircase from the landing with the door. Harry decided to mess with the headmaster a bit and sketched Algiz, Kano, Laguz and Dagaz in the air and channelled his prana into it focusing on the ward in front of him. He felt as if he was wrapped in bubble-wrap for a moment until everything was normal again. He checked and he did indeed have a constant if small drain in his prana showing the bounded field he'd anchored to himself was functioning.

He stepped forward through the identification ward and it felt like he had stepped through a waterfall as he did so. Cutting off the prana flow Harry knocked on the door in front of him. He waited a moment before Dumbledore opened it and poked his head through. It was rather comical really. He looked at Harry and then his eyes flickered to the identification ward and found it fully functional. Bewildered he looked back at the boy who looked completely indifferent to everything. Shaking his head in confusion Dumbledore stepped back and opened the door wide.

"Come in, come in my dear boy." He said "I'm sure we don't have to have our chat on the landing of all places." Harry stepped in and raised an eyebrow when he found that he and the headmaster were not alone. Professor Snape was standing in the corner and Mcgonagall was stood beside Dumbledore's chair.

"May I finally have the pleasure of knowing why I have been called to your office? As far as I am aware, no other student has had such a pleasure headmaster." Harry decided that ignoring the my boy comment was best. It sounded diminutive, condescending and possessive. Three things he'd rather the headmaster didn't think of in relation to him. Snape's lip quirked a bit and Mcgonagall's lips pressed together. "It is also curious that the deputy-head is here as well as the potions master. Should I have perhaps come with my head of house headmaster?" Mcgonagall's visage became even frostier and Snape's lip became a more defined smirk.

"Nothing like that my boy, just a few things to satiate an old man's questions." Harry looked directly at Dumbledore when he said that and replied in a hard tone.

"The only information that you, as the headmaster, should be privy to is my guardian in order to have a means of communication in an emergency. Her name is Stheno, an owl can deliver a letter to a drop box in London which is connected to her residence. What else do you need to know?" Dumbledore and Mcgonagall looked taken aback by the venom laced steel and frost in his tone. He reinforced his ears when he saw Snape muttering something and caught "Why he isn't a snake I'll never know." Harry grinned at that, he did consider himself a snake, insofar as a gorgon at least. He thought of gorgon as his primary species with vampire and human as secondary.

"I just need to know why you aren't living with your family. They miss you terribly and want to know when they'll see you again." Dumbledore told him. His family? He lived with his family, regardless of blood or not they WHERE his family and damn anyone that messes with them.

"I do live with my family. You will have to change your question to make sense as that one didn't" He was damned if he was going to make it easy for him. They probably meant the Dursleys and they would miss him like they missed their favourite rubbish bin. In other words, not at all.

"I am afraid that the people you live with are lying to you. You need to return to your loving aunt and uncle at Privet Drive. They are your blood relatives." Harry gave a feral smile but made sure his fangs remained hidden. The blood adoption meant that they where his blood relatives whether they had started out as that or not.

"What do you mean? My family are blood relatives of mine. Do you have any proof that shows they aren't?" Of course he wouldn't. He wouldn't even know a thing about them. As powerful as Dumbledore may or may not be, he couldn't travel between dimensions.

"Not as such, no. However, you have yet to prove they in fact _are_ really related to you." Now this one Harry could answer quite easily, he had asked about it after all and the laws would lend credence to it.

"If they hadn't been blood relatives of mine then the adoption would have had to go through the ministry to be scrutinized but it wasn't. The goblins always make sure everything is within the law and they are aware of my guardianship. You're not saying that the goblins are wrong are you? It would not help your equal rights position in politics if you discriminated against them without proof." Yeah, that really wouldn't go over well and Dumbledore would be left scrabbling for justification that may well damn him.

Harry grinned as he felt a legilimency probe. Now, most people thought that legilimency needed eye contact. That's true for the inexperienced and beginners but a master of the art simply needs to have the target in view. There where three such masters at Hogwarts and two of them where in this room. Snape did not seem to be against him and had a small smile on his face, Dumbledore on the other hand had steepled his fingers on his desk and had furrows in his brow. He obviously did not expect an eleven year old to be capable of repelling him and stopping his casual mind rape.

"Naughty, naughty headmaster. That's not very nice. In fact I'm almost certain that unwarranted legilimency attacks are a criminal offence even if it is rather minor." It was also damn difficult to prove to, one reason why it was rarely brought to court.

"How dare you! The headmaster would never do such a thing!" Harry had been wondering when Mcgonagall would erupt and thought about how best to reply.

"If that is so then I am sure that our dear head would be willing to say so under veritaserum or a truth oath. I would of course reimburse our resident potions master for the trouble it would cause." Dumbledore shifted uneasily for a moment before opening his mouth.

"Now, now. Calm down Minerva, Harry here just seems to have a few trust issues. In fact, why don't we speak of that? It is not good to isolate yourself from the world in this way Harry. You need friends. I could partner you up with some people and then there would be no need to run away from school on a weekend." Harry snorted, so someone had caught on to the fact that he hadn't been in school. From the looks of it though Dumbledore was the only one. Mcgonagall seemed as if she was going to combust any second so Harry decided to head her off.

"I have made the acquaintance of Hermione Granger of Gryffindor. She and Neville Longbottom, also of Gryffindor, seem to be the only decent people in this castle that are in a similar age bracket to me. I also have a reliable method of going back and forth between here and my home. I have friends back there that I wish to remain friends with and that means not leaving them alone for the better part of the year. I also visit with my family who like to make sure I am happy and healthy. Owls can't be used for a few reasons which is one part of why there are drop boxes for communication." Dumbledore looked put out by this put he wouldn't drop it yet.

"What do you mean by the only decent people in the castle? There are a number of good people here." Dumbledore would see if he could get the matter of Ronald Weasley sorted if he could get the right questions in.

"They are the only two people who have not stared a hole into me looking for a scar or gawked at my hair colour and blindfold. The rest of the castle think it is their right to demand knowledge on what it is like for a one year old to watch his parents be murdered and if he remembers what their murderer looks like. They seem to think that those ridiculous story books featuring my name could be true and forget that they are FICTION. I am not a storybook character, I am not perfect and I am no one's thrall." Harry was getting more and more irritated as time went on. His upper lip had curled back and his sharp teeth where on display with his fangs in full view, his hair had begun to get more restless and was waving out around him and was in constant motion. He had clenched his fists and the creaking of bone was clearly audible. Both Mcgonagall and Dumbledore looked alarmed and Snape was assessing him coolly as if identifying him as a threat that had yet to become active. Harry calmed himself, it was no good getting irate as that may make him slip in what he says and he doesn't want to give the manipulative old geezer anything to work with. He had given Stheno's name because he would have access to that anyway but that was it.

Dumbledore gulped, he could feel something that he would class as killing intent wash over him. It was muted and restrained and that was what had him worried. An eleven year old should not have that, not even the little that had actually passed over him. What on earth had happened to the boy in front of him. He hadn't paid much attention to it before but the boy's steps where graceful and predatory. He was like a mythical creature, both majestic in power and deed, whether those deeds be light or dark, as well as hidden like a panther stalking prey in the dark and would strike like a snake when its meal had been found. He could see that this boy needed his guidance back to the light and Dumbledore would have it no other way. The question was how to do it.

Mcgonagall had frozen. She felt like a kitten confronted with a sabre-toothed monstrosity, one that had all the fluid grace of a dancer and the power of a demon locked into a single child. She did not know what the intervening years had done to the boy she had once bounced on her knee but she would bet that something not human had influenced the child. He was like an animal in the wild that had been caught and tamed. He may follow the rules but he was still feral underneath it all and he would lash out if anyone brought any more chains down on him.

Snape was definitely curious about this boy. He was the son of a woman he had loved dearly and a man he despised, yet Harry resembled neither of them in either personality nor appearance. He had none of Lily's gentleness, he was blunt and honest, he had none of Potter's arrogance, what he did he could back up, he had neither of their tempers, Lily would instantly ignite and burn hot and quick whereas Potter would have planned a rather humiliating prank before dropping the issue. Harry had a slowly deteriorating temper that combined a sharp and venomous tongue with all the grace of a predator on the hunt. It was a wonder to see it in action but it was also one of the scariest things he'd seen. The boy seemed to radiate killing intent unconsciously which kept everyone pinned in place while his tongue dripped venom on whoever had brought him to this state. The boy was irritated here, Severus really didn't want to see what would happen to the one who actually made him snap.

"My home life is no concern of yours headmaster, I will however retrieve a signature from my guardians when next I am home so you do know, for a fact, that that is where I go on weekends. Good day to you all." With that Harry turned and stalked off.

The rest of the week fell in to the same pattern as last week. Alistair had told him of the marriage contract when he came by that evening and of how Dumbledore had been muttering of betrothal rituals and Weasleys. Harry had decided he would talk to everyone back home about it over winter break. The highlights for that week where his extra-curricular activities regarding reaction tables in potions and their first flying lesson.

xxxxx

The former of the two, the potions reaction tables, took place in Snape's classroom where harry set out three hundred glass tumblers in a grid pattern sixty by sixty but missing out on a diagonal from the top left to bottom right. First years used sixty different ingredients in their potions and so he decided he would make a table for them first, a separate table for each potion base starting with water. Each glass was half full of water and had two ingredients added to it and the reaction noted down in a table Harry had made. He included the visual changes as well as smells and any changes in temperature and on the PH scale (i.e.:acidity). He only got the single potion base done for the sixty ingredients when he had to leave and get a late lunch but professor Snape seemed rather impressed. Harry also mentioned how glass was non-reactive when he had been asked about what he was using as mini cauldrons. He also spoke of how the wizarding world had never changed their mixture for pewter and how it contained lead. Snape looked rather green when Harry told him about heavy metal poisoning and instantly said he would change the required cauldron material to copper for next year as well as tell his current students to do the same.

Harry said he would return Friday afternoon when he was free to continue his reaction tables. Snape told him that he had sixth years then and said he could use the classroom next door to carry on with his project. Seeing as his first and only lesson on Friday was double potions he thought he could get the next three bases done for the basic sixty ingredients. When he was done with first year ingredients he wondered if professor Snape would allow him to extend his reaction tables into the additional twenty ingredients used up until third year and then the further fifteen they used until their OWLs. The NEWTs used another thirty ingredients which totalled up to one hundred and twenty-five ingredients used in potions from first to seventh years which would require fifteen thousand six hundred and twenty five reactions per base. As there was seven bases that was one hundred and nine thousand three hundred and seventy-five reactions total.

If he took out the summer and winter holidays, which he would be spending at home, he had thirty-nine weeks of school total. If he did reactions only during school week days he would need to do almost two thousand and nine hundred a week or five hundred and sixty every week day. That was double what he had done that morning nearly. Harry grinned, he liked a challenge and this was a challenge worth undertaking. He would work quickly tomorrow and see if he could finish all seven bases using first year ingredients and then he would ask Snape about letting him use the classroom in the evenings and in his free periods to continue his project. He didn't think Snape would object, especially if he promised to duplicate each table for him to use in classes and a large one of all one hundred and twenty-five ingredients to put up.

Snape watched as Harry left his classroom and focused back on that mornings experimentation. He could see now why he was a Hufflepuff. Monday's encounter had shown his great care for those he considered family and today had shown a methodical and hard working student. He had overheard the boy muttering about continuing this into later years ingredients. He had no problem, this might even teach the dunderheads something or at least cause fewer explosions. He was quite pleased with the boy and no longer thought of him as either Lily's son nor the Potter spawn but simply as Harry which was something of a misnomer if you considered how complex a person he truly was. Snape chuckled to himself as he wandered back in to his classroom to prepare for his next class, second years. They where barely better than first years he grumbled to himself as he shut the door behind him.

xxxxx

On Thursday Harry, along with the rest of his year group headed outside for their flying lesson just before half four and found four lines of broomsticks laid out in a circle around Madam Hooch, the flying instructor. Harry chose a place at the end of the Hufflepuff line that touched Gryffindor's. On that side of him stood Hermione and on her other side was a clearly nervous Neville. On the other side of Harry was Susan Bones followed by Hannah Abbott.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Barked out the hawk-eyed flight instructor. "Put one hand of the broom and say up! Come on now, get it together." Everyone did so and about one in ten brooms actually shot into people's hands. Most of these looked completely unsurprised by this and Harry guessed they had flown before. Harry's was one of those that shot straight into his hand. He had flown a little before coming to Hogwarts, during the summer, and found he had natural talent for it. His father had been a seeker but Harry thought that chaser was a much more rewarding and involved position.

Madam Hooch came amongst them and corrected their grip whenever she came across someone holding it wrong. Weasel sniggered when she told Ferret he'd been doing it wrong for years but was quickly put in to place when she turned to him. Soon enough everyone had mounted their brooms and were ready for first flight.

Looking to either side Harry noticed the panicked look on Neville's face and whispered so only those near him could hear "Neville, wait. Take a breath and calm yourself. Everything will go fine. You can do this and it'll be no problem. Think of it as a plant. Wood is part of a tree and you're good at herbology so this isn't a problem" Thankfully the boy managed to calm down somewhat and gave a somewhat shaky smile at Harry.

It wasn't long before the entire class was in the air and drifting lazily about. Harry preferred to keep low and flat, following the contours of the land. He was rather enjoying this, he could smell the earth beneath him and feel the warmth of the sun above him. The shadows of the other fliers where chasing each other across the grass.

There was an almighty crash and Harry had to dodge aside to avoid a pair of falling bodies. He pulled up and saw that Weasel and Ferret had landed in a tangle of limbs. He chuckled, he wasn't surprised that it was the two that had crashed, he thought it delicious irony that the two who had bragged loudest this past week had made fools of themselves in the first lesson.

Harry watched with a chuckle of amusement after Hooch had marched them up to the castle after laying in to them about dangerous flying and childish behaviour. It turned out that Malfoy had insulted Weasley and his family about affording a broomstick and the Weasel had implied that the Ferret's parents where infertile, a decidedly large insult in the wizarding world, the result of which was the two diving at each other and ending up on the ground. Harry looked around and saw Neville and Hermione who had stuck close to him near the ground and gave them a nod before landing and dismounting. Hooch had said the lesson was over and he decided to practice a few of the spells he'd listed as suitable for combat, a simple cutting curse and a piercing hex.

xxxxx

That weekend he managed to get a hold of fifteen mannequins which he presented to professor Flitwick the following Monday. He had also approached professor Snape about expanding his reaction tables and had received permission to use the adjacent classroom whenever he had free time. Homework was easily completed, especially this early in the year and Harry was enjoying it now that everyone was no longer nagging him with questions. He was cordial with everyone but didn't really interact much with anyone besides Hermione and, since the flying lesson, Neville. He was trying to build Neville's confidence up, living in a pureblood house the boy had ready access to theory and he knew a few things that even Harry didn't. It was practicals that he seemed to fail at. The wand movements where fairly good and his pronunciation was fine when he managed to not stutter but something seemed to be inhibiting him. It was about a week later that Harry found out what it was.

Neville was repeatedly casting the knockback jinx on a chair in an abandoned classroom while Harry watched on and Hermione had her nose buried in one of Harry's books she had borrowed. He'd been at it a while and eventually just collapsed into a chair while dropping his wand which rolled away from him. Harry stood and went to retrieve the wand. "I just can't understand it," Harry said "Your wand movements are correct and your incantation is too but something is stopping you from casting properly. What is it?" He was getting frustrated. To him, hard work leads to a result but all this effort had produced nothing conclusive. He bent and picked up Neville's wand. It felt smooth and Harry was sure he could feel the impression of fingers and a hand in it. The impression however was much too large to have been Neville's. Now he looked at it, the wand didn't look particularly new either. He knew Weasel's wand hadn't originally been his, who in their right mind would buy a wand with the core poking out, but Neville was from a family of old money and could easily purchase a wand. "Neville, are you sure this wand is yours? I think it's someone else's."

Neville looked up at Harry before looking at the wand "It was my father's. Gran wants me to grow up to be a good wizard like him and if his wand was good enough for him then it's good enough for me." Harry simply shook his head at the naivety before deciding to tell him something.

"Neville, I tried every wand in Ollivander's shop and not one of them worked for me. I had to get one custom made. My father's wand was mahogany and my mother's was willow. Mine is neither and has a rather weird core too. Just because something works for one person doesn't mean it will work for another. This Saturday meet me in the entrance hall at eight and we will get you a new wand. If your Gran wants to remember her son then that is all well and good but she shouldn't impede you in doing so. Think of it as a late birthday present." Neville went to protest but eventually Harry talked him in to it.

On that Saturday Harry was waiting patiently by the front doors for Neville at quarter to eight. He was dressed in his usual style and Len was perched on his shoulder. It was at five minutes to eight that Neville turned up and came over to him.

"Right," said Harry "let's get out of sight for a moment and we'll be off." He dragged Neville into a side corridor and after glancing around to make sure they where alone he used the Kaleidoscope to take himself and Neville to Diagon Alley that was just opening up. He walked swiftly with Neville hurrying along to Ollivander's wand shop and entered.

"Mr. Potter, I do believe I have seen more of you than any other customer since I started in this business. May I ask about your reason for being here this time?" Ollivander seemed curious about why he had returned again before looking at who had followed him in. "Ah Mr. Longbottom, I expected you quite a while ago I must say. Unless my guess is off then you are here for your wand. As much as I enjoy a challenge I don't think you will be as troublesome as your companion was." Once Neville and Harry indicated that was their purpose here Ollivander began fetching various wands for Neville to try. He ended up with a thirteen inch cherry wand with a unicorn tail hair core. As always Ollivander wouldn't let him get away without mentioning something about it. "That wand will be good at defensive spells such as shields, it will do well in charms and it shows you have a far gentler nature than Mr Potter here. Cherry is also a prized wand wood for the japanese too" harry paid the seven galleons for the wand as Neville looked it in wonder with a large smile on his face. This would help his confidence issues at least. He took Neville back to Hogwarts before disappearing off to the clock tower for his weekend.

xxxxx

Draco Malfoy glared across the great hall towards the Hufflepuff table. There sat Potter, eating by himself while students chattered around him. The half-blood freak had disrespected him since the train ride here. Who did he think he was to disregard a superior pureblood like himself? Who was he to threaten him with a muggle blade? What really pissed Draco off was how good Potter was in classes. He was always one of those who got the spell first and when asked he always gave a full answer without badgering away like that mudblood Granger. People had said that the way he walks was predatory and proud, Draco thought he was simply scared and was being cautious. Now that near squib Longbottom was improving in class and rumour was Potter was responsible. As if it wasn't bad enough that the ridiculous freak was a good flier, he had seen how Potter had followed the ground so well, anyone else would have crashed being so close to the ground and going at that speed. He would show everyone that Potter was a freak and not someone to be in awe of. He should have people's attention, he was the pureblooded scion of house Malfoy, he was rich and of good heritage, he knew his etiquette and he thought himself far more attractive than the freak in the blindfold with purple streaks in his hair and his unnaturally pale skin. Honestly, why everyone thought so highly of him Draco would never know. He decided that he would show that half-blood up right now and he rose from the table flanked by Crabbe and Goyle and made his way over to the Hufflepuffs and stood behind Potter before addressing him.

"You think you're so good don't you Potter?" It seemed that third year Diggory had noticed him. "You wouldn't stand a chance against a real wizard. I challenge you to a duel if you think yourself capable of such a task." He smirked. There was no way he could loose to someone that had grown up outside the wizarding world. His father had used his wand to teach Draco for two years now and he knew a few spells that would work well.

Harry was irritated. He had been wondering when the ferret would finally get the courage to face him and he had been thinking about the reaction tables with Snape when he had been interrupted. He didn't like being interrupted and didn't think Draco would actually have a chance against him. He sparred against enforcers for goodness sake and his thaumaturgy was more suited for combat than any spells they'd learned in class thus far. He decided to turn the boy away.

"I have no wish to turn my wand upon you Malfoy, there is no need for it." He had turned and was looking at the ferret over his shoulder and was confused when the boy smirked.

"If those are your terms we will duel immediately then half-blood." He said before marching up to the head table. Harry glanced at Cedric Diggory who had been listening in and whose eyes had just gone wide.

"Yes?" Harry asked. He was not particularly concerned but was curious about what he'd apparently done.

"You said you didn't need to turn your wand on him but you didn't specifically say no to the duel. As the challenged you can set the terms. He can take what you said to mean you would duel him without a wand!" Harry looked up to where Malfoy was at the head table, talking to Snape. The professor's eyebrows had rose and he looked towards Harry who cocked his head to one side before Snape turned to Dumbledore. Harry was unsurprised when the headmaster gestured for him to come up. He did so which didn't go unnoticed in the great hall.

"Mr. Malfoy here has told me of a duel with some interesting conditions. What can you tell me Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked him.

"Mr. Malfoy challenged me to a duel without giving a reason. I said I didn't want to turn my wand on him." Harry replied succinctly. Snape raised his eyebrows and Dumbledore furrowed his brow. It was obvious to them how Malfoy had taken that and it couldn't be refuted without Harry giving a public apology which would be humiliating, especially given what the terms where.

Snape was curious as to how this would work out. Draco was a Slytherin and, more importantly, his godson. He would have to support Draco here to maintain a credible role. Dumbledore however was wondering if this humility would allow him to use his grandfatherly persona to get an in with the boy himself and decided to make the duel public.

"You do know Harry that what you said can be taken as an acceptance to duel without a wand?" The headmaster looked at Harry. He was confused by how calm he appeared about it. "You could however make an apology before Mr. Malfoy. I am sure in the circumstances that people would understand, after all I doubt I could win such a duel myself." He and Snape where even more confused by the way Harry's lip quirked upward at the end of that sentence.

"If I am to duel then so be it. I will not back down and I will not apologise for something I should really have no need to apologise for." Harry stated in a completely unnerving monotone.

"You do know that physical contact between participants is not allowed so there will be no muggle fighting if that is what you where hoping." Snape decided to caution the boy. A fist would be an immediate forfeit in a magical duel and be a fine for the one committing it.

"I am aware." Was all that was said in return.

"Very well then," Dumbledore turned to the hall at large which had gone rather quiet since Harry had been called to the head table "Students, it seems there is to be a duel with rather interesting conditions." He turned to Harry "Mr. Potter, if I may hold on to your wand for the duration of the duel." He was holding out his hand but Harry would be damned if that meddling old coot would be the one to have it. Harry walked down the table and held his wand out in front of professor Babbling. She raised an eyebrow but accepted it anyway. Snape smirked, it had been understated and the younger ones and the more dense would miss it but Harry had just made it known that he held the headmaster in less than stellar favour. Glancing at his Slytherins he could already see this being muttered about amongst themselves. Mcgonagall looked like she'd swallowed a fly, she knew what refusing to hand his wand over had shown and she was none too thrilled at the implied disrespect.

Looking put out Dumbledore soon regained himself "Very well then. Duelling to the death has been outlawed except in particular circumstances so I will remind you that this duel is to incapacitation or forfeit only. Give me a moment to raise some shields." He waved his wand around and Harry could feel some sort of prana constructs appear around the two of them though nothing was visible. He nodded his head before walking off to one side and waited while Malfoy went to the other.

"On my mark," Dumbledore called "Three. Two. One. Begin!" And with that Draco began with a shouted cry of 'IMPEDIMENTA'. He planned to immobilise the half-blood freak before humiliating him. Harry on the other hand had merely reinforced himself and stepped aside casually as the spell went past him. He cocked his head to one side and his lip twitched while looking directly at Malfoy. This infuriated the blonde Slytherin and he started casting faster and faster.

"Immobulus, ipedimenta, stupify, locomotor mortis, diffindo, defodio, petrificus totallus, flipendo, tarantallegra, rictusempra!" he managed to get himself up to an appreciable rate of fire after half a minute of constant casting but Harry kept side-stepping them almost lazily. Draco saw red and decided to use something a little nastier.

Many of the staff gasped as the rotting death curse left Malfoy's wand and headed for Harry, that was a dark curse that carried with it a hefty fine! What shocked people more however was when Harry didn't move out of the way when it headed right for him.

Harry was inwardly laughing. This was so easy, the only spells heading for him had been direct action spells that only enacted themselves when they made contact and therefore where useless if they hit nothing. Wide area spells like banishing or blasting curses would have worked better. He was all the more amused when Malfoy decided to use an illegal curse on him in front of so many witnesses. He channelled prana into his hand reinforcing it to his limit before channelling more over the top until a barely discernible distortion appeared there. He back handed the curse away from him and into the shields Dumbledore had erected. The curse ate right through them and headed towards Dumbledore himself who moved aside only to watch his throne-like chair disappear as if devoured by ravenous termites. Everyone looked back up as Harry decided to finish the match.

Harry activated his circuits with a thought, his mental trigger was a drop of blood falling into an already full goblet "_**My soul is a weapon**_" he incanted and focused on the boy in front of him. He limited the prana as he didn't want to kill him but he would certainly leave a mark.

Everyone blinked as a semi-opaque sphere of energy appeared above Harry's left shoulder and again as another appeared and another and another until there was almost fifty such spheres around him all pulsing slightly. Their breath caught in their throats as first one then two then five of them pelted towards Malfoy and knocked him off his feet. They didn't stop there however as the next batch curved around and came at him from below knocking him into the air where he was surrounded and became pummelled again and again by orbs of magic.

It was over relatively soon. Malfoy lay bruised and bleeding on the floor before him but was obviously trying to get to his feet. Harry decided to end it there and not humiliate the boy further. He raised one hand and pointed a finger at him like someone with a pretend gun. Everyone watched as a black orb appeared at the tip of his finger before shooting off and hitting Malfoy square in the face. Draco collapsed and his wand rolled away from his open hand. Harry looked towards Dumbledore awaiting the declaration of the victor but Dumbledore was looking at him slack-jawed.

Glancing up and down the line of professors he saw much of the same. Sighing he forced his prana at the duelling shields which Dumbledore erected and, without Dumbledore's focus, they shattered. He walked towards professor Babbling who was one of the few who didn't have to pick her jaw up but was regarding him rather calmly truth be told and held his hand out for his wand which she handed over. It wasn't until harry had stalked from the hall that the staff and students once again regained their higher functions.

xxxxx

The great hall burst into conversation. What they had just seen was unreal. A first year had just wandlessly beat down another student in a public duel. Granted that the opponent was another student but it was still an amazing feat. A number of Ravenclaws had rushed off to the library to try and research what had just happened, Hermione had as well. The students where loudly wondering if Harry would teach them. All except the Slytherins and one Gryffindor. In Slytherin house the only ones who where chattering excitedly where the younger ones who weren't subtle enough. The older ones where casting significant glances around and trying to work out who was likely to know how that had happened and learn it themselves, Slytherins where all for their own advantages after all.

The silent Gryffindor was one Ronald Weasley or Weasel as Harry was fond of thinking of him. This boy was boiling over with rage and jealousy. If Potter had just accepted his friendship back on the train then he could have gotten him to spill all his secrets and make him a super-wizard too! It was so unfair. How could Potter be so powerful? Where did he lean how to do that? Why couldn't it have been him who did all the cool stuff? Damn Potter and his stupid weird magic, damn him and everything he had. How could he get revenge on the boy for showing off like that? Potter had obviously asked Dumbledore to let him make himself look cool seeing as everyone had just stopped talking to him and precious Potter couldn't have that now.

Away from the scheming ginger, the head table was awash in mutterings of their own. Snape kept out of it but had an ear open listening for anything useful. It became painfully apparent however that the rest of the staff knew nothing about whatever Harry had just done. Snape himself was rather amused, Draco had tried to make a fool of the boy and in a move worthy of a Slytherin Harry had given him a resounding beat down. He was rather envious of Pomona if he was honest. The boy kept himself apart from the rest of the students maintaining an air of mystery as unintentional as it might be, he had kept his true strength secret as well. Everyone had thought him a well-read first year and, though he was rapidly advancing in practicals now that he had learnt the basics, no one had ever thought him capable of the show of power that they had just witnessed. Dammit, if it wasn't for his hard work and lack of ambition Snape was sure that the boy would have been his. It was most infuriating.

Mcgonagall was reminded of what Harry had said on his stance to killing back when she took him to Diagon Alley and she was worried. With such obvious power available to him he would be nigh unstoppable if he ever decided he wanted to follow in He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's footsteps. She could clearly see how bored he was during the duel and when he finally decided to retaliate he had shown no visible signs of weariness. She didn't know how much damage he could do if he decided to go all out and she really didn't want to either. That boy was someone she would be wary of, his cat already set her instincts off and now this just compounded it. It was obvious that he could have killed the Malfoy boy with neither effort nor care for the lost life. He was dangerous and she'd be damned if she let him kill any of her students.

Dumbledore's thoughts where going a mile a minute. Was this strange magic the 'power he knows not' from the prophecy? How much was the young boy capable of? Just what kind of magic was that anyway? He really needed to know but the boy's occlumency would mean he was aware if he made a legilimency attack. Perhaps it was worth forcing away whatever slight shields the boy may have to find out and then obliviate him afterwards. He had to know what it was and the boy's occlumency couldn't be strong enough to resist the obliviation, could it? Perhaps he could slip some truth serum into his food or drink? No, that last one would have him spilling everything in the great hall and only Dumbledore himself could have that knowledge. He needed to use it to maximum efficiency in the coming fight with Voldemort after all and as the leader of the light he had a right to that information. The rumours he was hearing where worrisome. That the boy was Merlin's reincarnation, that magic itself had blessed him, that he had simply forced his will upon the world and that he was a being of magic that had replaced the boy and not Harry himself. Though worrisome by themselves what was more so was that for all Dumbledore knew they could be true and this was a situation that could not continue!

Gathering himself he directed Pomfrey to Mr. Malfoy on the floor before scurrying out of the hall where he stopped. What should he do first? He could either track the boy down and attempt a full legilimency assault or he could research what other forms of magic there where in the world. Perhaps what Harry had done was commonplace in one magic culture or another. Wandless magic was not unheard of after all. He himself was capable of wandlessly summoning an object or a weak banisher but that was it and he was considered one of the most accomplished with it. He was not capable of what he had seen the eleven year old pull off as if it was nothing. He decided to head to his office and he would check on Mr. Malfoy later and see if the results could give him some clue to whatever had happened back there. He would use his pensieve to see if his memory could show anything he could not immediately remember.

xxxxx

"**_My soul is a weapon_**" Dumbledore watched as that single single statement seemed to be the herald for what was to come. He watched as those blue orbs appeared from nowhere and pelted into the Malfoy boy. The black orb that came from his finger however had required no words unless the previous statement was still affecting it but he honestly couldn't tell.

Removing himself from the memory Dumbledore now knew exactly three things about Harry's strange magic: one, it was powerful, two, it seemed to have stemmed from that strange incantation he had used, three, it had reacted to Harry's will, there was no plausible explanation as to why the orbs had acted in such a manner. The scary thing was that at times four groups of them had been moving independently of each other meaning Harry could somehow concentrate on four things at once. Dumbledore didn't know how that was even conceivable as each person had a conscious mind and an unconscious one whereas Harry had displayed a quality that would need four separate levels of a mind to enact. He decided heading to the hospital wing and seeing what Madam Pomfrey had to report on the victim could give him.

Dumbledore hadn't expected the boy to still be there. He was conscious now but was groaning and whimpering on one of the beds. He looked to Madam Ponfrey for an answer and she replied with "He's ill." He kept looking at her willing her to elaborate and she sighed before doing so. "I don't know how. There is no cause just the effect. It's as if his body just convinced itself that it was sick and decided to reproduce the effects, that is all I can come up with and I've even flooed St. Mungo's. They've never seen anything like it. Unless you can get Mr. Potter to reverse the effects all I can suggest is that he waits it out and hopes it isn't permanent. None of the cures I've tried have alleviated the effects at all. Pain relief potions are useless as is fever reducer and even general health potions. I've tried various others but nothing is working at all." The matron was obviously rather peeved that there was something that wasn't life threatening she couldn't do anything about.

Raising his wand Dumbledore cast a few diagnostic charms at the incapacitated boy and came back with exactly what Madam Pomfrey had told him. The effects of general lack of health without apparent cause. A curse would normally have created the effects and could have been traced back to that and then the counter-curse would have caused the effects to cease but it seemed as if whatever Harry had hit him with had caused the effects without needing to remain to maintain them. This was troublesome and it decided his next course of action. He would have to track young Harry down and get answers directly from the source. He assured Madam Pomfrey that he would send him there when he found him before stepping out of the infirmary and casting a point me spell. According to it Mr. Potter was downstairs. He guessed he might be in his room in the Hufflepuffs' den and the wand led him exactly there. He knocked on the door and waited.

xxxxx

After leaving the hall Harry had headed to the only place that he knew would give him peace, his own room. He had marched off in quite a mood. Honestly, he had tried to politely turn down the duel but it seemed the wizarding world couldn't even abide by the same manners as everyone else. How could his declining violence be seen as him mocking the blonde ferret? It was inconceivable to him and he got irritated when things didn't make sense. When he made it down to his room he threw himself onto onto his bed and laid back. A moment later he felt Len in her human form lay next to him and cuddle him. He smiled a little. He could always count on her to try and get him out of his funk. He looked towards her and saw her worried eyes. Len might not speak much but her eyes where some of the most expressive that Harry had ever seen. It may just be him but he had never had any trouble understanding what Len meant when those eyes where tuned on him. Right now she wanted to comfort him and take away his irritation with the wizarding world in general and, more specifically, one ferret that would find itself in need of more than a makeover if it continued as it was. He sighed and wrapped his arms around Len who buried her face into his shoulder and the two remained like that for a while.

This was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Harry didn't want to answer it but the knock came back and then again. Whoever it was they were persistent. Harry looked at Len who, understanding immediately, switched back to being a cat and perched herself on his shoulder. She wrapped her tail around his shoulders which she didn't normally and Harry drew extra comfort from this as he opened the door to find the Headmaster on the other side.

"Yes headmaster?" Dumbledore for his part was looking past Harry and into what he could see of the room. There where shelves of books filling the room. The bed, drawers and wardrobe that was standard where in there but whatever room they didn't take up was occupied by shelves of books. He caught a glimpse of some of their titles 'Bounded field basics' was one and 'Theory of the root' was another. One book was open on top of the drawers but it was written in a language that Dumbledore couldn't decipher. His gaze came back to the boy in front of him. He noticed that his cat was once again on his shoulder. Now that he thought about it the cat had sat itself at the end of the staff table when the duel was announced and had kept its gaze focused on Harry throughout. It was a rather unusual display of intelligence and made Dumbledore leery of it. Looking up into the crimson gaze of its eyes he saw a frightening intelligence in them as he would expect from something sentient like a human, goblin or centaur. What made him even more wary was the way the cat seemed to be scrutinising him. It was ridiculous but Dumbledore was sure that this cat was a bad enemy to make and it was firmly attached to Harry Potter. Dumbledore then remembered his purpose here and made to take a step in to the room only to be met with an invisible forcefield or some such over the doorway. He stumbled a bit when forced back but gathered himself and addressed Harry, who had yet to step out of the room.

"Ah, Mr. Potter. I was wondering if I might ask you a few questions, if you don't mind?" Harry gave the man a hard glare, not that it could be seen beneath his blindfold, and merely replied.

"You can ask but that doesn't mean I'll answer." Dumbledore supposed this was as close as he was going to get to an invitation and began to ask his questions.

"I was wondering if you would care to tell me how you managed such an impressive display earlier despite not having your wand on you." Harry snorted. If Dumbledore thought he could replicate magecraft then he was sorely mistaken.

"No, I wouldn't care to divulge my every secret to you. No magus would but you wouldn't even understand what I meant by that. Before you ask, no, it is impossible for any wizard or witch to replicate and is the result of a specific event in my past I shan't share with you." Dumbledore made a note of the term magus to research later before asking his next question.

"Mr. Malfoy is currently in the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey can't seem to find what is wrong with him. Could you at least provide the counter-curse to alleviate the poor boy of his pain?" There was the traditional guilt trip but it wouldn't work as Harry really didn't care for the ferret one bit.

"Once again, no. The last thing I hit him with was a gandr shot, a Scandinavian sickness curse and there is no counter. He'll recover in a day or so, there is no permanent harm done which is more than could be said for me if that illegal dark curse he used against me had done as it was supposed to. I don't suppose you are going to discipline him for that are you?" Harry didn't think he would. From what he'd seen and read Dumbledore was an extreme example of a pacifist. He did not even use force when the country had been embroiled in war. He expected the man would brush this under the rug and talk about how there was no need due to it not working or some such rubbish.

"Come now Mr. Potter. He ended the duel far worse than yourself, is there really a need to add insult to injury? No harm was done so I see no reason to add insult to I injury and let bygones be bygones." Well, he almost got it right. Too bad for the old coot that Harry wasn't a gullible little pawn.

"So headmaster, you see no reason to discipline a student who used an illegal curse that could have resulted in death in front of hundreds of witnesses? Well, I do. I will make sure to inform the DMLE of what happened and submit to their enquiry. If consequences of actions are not enforced by you then I will seek those that do enforce them. Now, please leave me headmaster." With that Harry closed the door in his face.

Dumbledore had frozen. No one had shown such opposition to him in recent years apart from those who refused to see the light and allow him to shepherd them towards a brighter future. He was left staring at the innocuous looking door that he knew would be impervious to any spell he would use on it and with his thoughts on the similarities between the boy on the other side and another he had failed half a century ago. He was so caught up in the similarities that he didn't think of any differences they might have had. That would prove to be a distraction as Harry was already penning a letter to the department of magical law enforcement. Harry didn't make threats. He made promises.

xxxxx

Off in his quarters one teacher thought of what he had just seen. It had been amazing and powerful. He was interrupted by a voice echoing from somewhere behind him. The voice wanted unicorn blood and he had only one reply he could give.

"Yes M-master, r-right away."


	11. Law and Trolls

AN: Well here is the next chapter and I must say that I don't know much about law so a bit of guess work went into those bits. Something doesn't quite feel right with the first parts of this chapter but I couldn't think of what or how to do them so I hope that is okay. One note: My troll would NOT be taken out by being brained by its own club, trolls are tougher than that and I hope you enjoyed the fight.

Right now I don't know whether to thank a user named Zaralann or curse him. I've just got tangled up with him in an omake war and I can't help but post one regardless of what it is. His omakes make me feel insignificant. I can write stories but not snippets. If anyone wants to join in on our little war then feel free. You can find it here:

topic/139203/95299150/1

I'm going to go through all my chapters between now and when I next update to try and correct tense and break up the text a bit to make it easier to read. I'll be raising the rating to M as well. Apparently blood and gore does not belong in a T rated story.

I think that's all for now. Christmas will come about in the next chapter or two so happy inter-story Halloween for now and get your crimbo prezzies ready.

Enjoy the chapter

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 11 – The Law and Trolls

Harry was really peeved off.

Just when all the chatter about him had died off it had found new life. He hated it, the way some people asked him how it was done, some asked where they could learn it, some even asked him to teach them. There was one elder Ravenclaw girl who got on her knees and begged! He ran away from that one pretty quickly and he seriously hoped the muttering about sacrificing her first born to him had been a joke!

He had been out on the grounds escaping it all when Hermione had cornered him, his room was useless now as everyone just waited outside the door for him. He'd taken to using the Kaleidoscope to travel between his room and broom cupboards throughout the school. He was now sat on a rock and leaning backwards, supported by his splayed hands. Len was next to him basking in some of the last sunlight before the cold set in.

A shadow fell over them and Harry looked up to see a silhouette of bushy hair. He had wondered how long it would be before Hermione's curiosity got the better of her. No doubt she had thoroughly researched wandless magic in the last couple of days.

"How did you do that?" She questioned, though demanded wouldn't have been far wrong. "You said you had been separated from the wizarding world and I was there when you got your wand so how can you be so much better than me?" Oh? It looked like she was a little jealous, best nip that in the bud.

"I was separated from the wizarding world but that is not the only community that practices magic. From the age of five onwards I was raised as a magus. What I did back there was a product of that. A magus may use a mystic code, that is an object through which magecraft is enacted, but more often than not their basic thaumaturgy is done without any aid. As for class work, I have been reading about magic for years now. Before you ask, no, I cannot teach you magecraft. It is not out of a desire to be mysterious or appear superior it is simply because of an incident in my youth that means I am capable. You will not meet a witch or wizard who is capable of thaumaturgy apart from myself." She looked put out. Hopefully she would be satisfied. Harry had no wish to answer a multitude of questions, one or two at the most and only to one he was considering a friend.

"Could that incident be repeated so that others could do what you do? And can everyone do the same things?" Harry sighed. It looked like she would not be dissuaded that easily. He would answer these two questions and no more.

"Yes the incident could be repeated but there is a lot of meaning behind it and not something to be done casually, it is literally life changing and if the details became known then the wizarding world would vilify me as a monster and deride me as sub-human so I'd appreciate it if you kept this conversation to yourself. As for your second question, no. Everyone has a specialisation, they have an element and origin that shapes what their main focus is. My element is spirit and my origin is being. Make of that what you will but I am answering no more questions!" He snapped at the end and just lay down on the flat-topped boulder beneath him.

Harry could hear Hermione grumbling but she asked no more questions. She sat down on the boulder next to him and he could feel her gaze return to him whenever she thought he wouldn't notice. Dammit, he hoped this would die down quicker than the last time.

xxxxx

Harry's irritation grew ever greater over the following week. He was still hounded by the general student populace but he maintained a stony silence in regards to their questioning and requests. The professors treated him differently instead, most of them gave him appraising looks but did not speak any differently. The exceptions were Snape, who treated him just the same as hi did before, and Mcgonagall. His transfiguration professor always kept him in her sight and stared a burning hole right through him. He could smell the fear on her, he could see the wariness in her eyes. It was like she expected him to just stand up one lesson and go on a killing rampage. Harry ignored it completely. He threw himself into making his reaction tables and his pace picked up greatly. At this rate the tables would all be finished by April instead of the end of the school year as had been expected before.

There was one person however who he was having a far harder task of ignoring. The almighty weasel kept heckling Harry every chance he got, it was ridiculous! He shouted at him in the corridors about how his parents would be disappointed in having the next dark lord as a son and they should have killed him at birth, how he should have been expelled because he had obviously done dark rituals to be able to do what he had, how his family must be a bunch of dark, evil freaks who had fed him children's' blood as he grew up. It was the last one that nearly made him snap and kill the twerp. Harry didn't much care about insults directed at himself but NOBODY was getting away with talking like that about his family.

xxxxx

The students came down to the great hall one morning to find an odd sight. There, dangling from the ceiling by thick chains was Ronald Weasley. The boy had been covered in bruises and was apparently unconscious. There was a sickly sheen of sweat running down his body which was all on display, he was not wearing a stitch of clothing. On his back was painted the words 'Punch me, I'm an idiot' in large black letters.

The professors immediately went to break the chains holding him there but found them to be resistant to whatever spell they tried. The weasel was left hanging there until the chains shattered into nothingness about half an hour before first period. He fell to the floor and smacked his head. He awoke screaming.

"The girl, the girl!" he cried. He sobbed and whined and twitched and moaned as he kept muttering about a blue haired girl with crimson eyes skipping down the corridor. He was so incoherent that he didn't even seem to notice he was naked before the entire school. Madam Pomfrey soon dragged him off to the hospital wing to try and find what was making him sweat and shiver like he was. He would not be seen until the next morning with heavy shadows under his eyes and a rather yellow complexion to go with it.

xxxxx

It seemed, however, that the ginger fool really couldn't take a hint. Everyone had already guessed that it was Harry that had done so and a number of students had seen him freeze when the red head had made the comment about his family. No one was going to be foolish enough to tickle that sleeping dragon! The redhead had managed to learn to avoid family matters when irritating the boy-who-lived though. He stuck to calling him a freak and other things but when that got no reaction he decided to up the ante.

A dung bomb went flying through the air towards Harry Potter and everyone watching held their breath and not just because of what Weasel had thrown. It was a good shot anyone could admit, the unique hair colouring meant the target was easily distinguishable. What none of them had expected was for a lock of his hair to rise up independently and knock the dung bomb right back at the sixth Weasley male.

Fred and George who had been watching raised their wands in the air and a pair of smoky tens where soon hovering in the air when the dung bomb found its target in their brother's open mouth. That had gotten a few laughs from everyone and it had taken a little of the attention off of Harry that he was most grateful for.

xxxxx

It was the end of the month and time for the first full staff meeting of the year. All of the professors where gathered in the second floor staff room which was the largest of them. Dumbledore sat at the head of the table and looked around at all those in attendance, even Hagrid, Filch and Madam Pince and Pomfrey where here. He asked the general questions like if all the first years could navigate the castle by now and how where the third year students handling their electives before moving on to more specific questions.

"I've noticed a rift in our current first years. Would anyone like to give their input on this?" Dumbledore asked to the room. It was Pomfrey who replied.

"If you mean the ill-will between Mr Weasley, Mr Malfoy and Mr Potter then I damn well have noticed! I've had the first two in my infirmary from what Mr Potter has done to them. Mr Malfoy was bad enough but what did Mr Weasley do to deserve that!" She was incensed that someone would purposefully harm another, she took her healer's oath seriously.

"You mean you haven't heard the degrading comments that Mr Weasley showers on Mr Potter on a regular basis?" Snape enquired "It seems that Mr Potter finally snapped when the boy made derogatory comments about the family he occasionally mentions."

"I heard about that too, it seems everyone is asking about Mr Potter's magic but he isn't answering." This from the runes professor, Babbling. "It has been going on since that interesting duel with Mr. Malfoy. I myself have been wondering what he could do with runes if he takes my elective. That's if he doesn't already know them."

Madam Pince spoke up next "He spends a fair amount of time in the library. He doesn't check many books out and seems to be reading a wide variety of topics. He reads about the various different branches of magic and how they differ from one another. He also reads up on sapient magical beings though I don't know why."

Dumbledore went on to ask about his progress in class which each professor replied in the positive. Minerva didn't look happy about it but it was when Severus spoke that everyone paid attention.

"Poppy, how are those potions I've given you recently?" Everyone blinked at the seemingly off topic question before turning to the matron.

"They've been better than any I've ever used before. I've been meaning to ask whether it's a new recipe or something. They are certainly more effective I can tell you." The room looked back at Snape and where thrown by the growing smile on his face.

"All those potions where produced by Harry Potter himself from the basic ingredients and with no deviation from the standard recipe. Rather promising results if I do say so myself." Snape chuckled to himself which made a few staff members jump, when did Severus Snape laugh? "he has also taken on an extra-curricular project that will probably make my job easier, we will see with next years students whether it is an aid or not though I do believe it will be." No one could really believe it. Praise from Snape was like finding a diamond in llama faeces.

"Really Severus? Has Mr. Potter ever spoken of any other things outside of the syllabus?" Dumbledore was digging for information and would take anything he could get. It was disappointing that the one Harry was closest to was Snape. If it had been anyone else then they could have driven him away from the corrupting dark arts but, as ever, Severus needed to maintain his cover and remain ambivalent at best to them.

"He speaks fondly of a Euryale and Stheno whom he thinks of as sisters and someone named Zelretch as a surrogate grandfather. There are other names such as an Altrouge and an Arcueid who he generally calls Arc as well but the name most often on his lips is Len, curiously this Len girl shares a name with his cat. He never speaks of much besides his interactions with them and no surnames are ever used nor a location given. I'd almost think he was a Slytherin when he starts playing word games with me and he doesn't even seem to notice it." Well that was partially useful. Perhaps this Euryale was the godmother that had replaced Alice Longbottom. It was another name to search for in wizarding genealogies which where perhaps the most boring things that showcase the written word.

Their deliberations where interrupted by an owl winging its way into the window and depositing itself in front of Dumbledore. The headmaster reached for the letter it carried and took notice of the wax seal on it, a wand with a padlock on it, the official seal of the DMLE.

Dumbledore paled, he hadn't thought that Harry would actually get a letter to the ministry. He had charmed the owlery to divert all such mail through him for editing. How had he done it? Dumbledore had a bad feeling about times to come.

xxxxx

How Harry had done it was actually relatively simple. A week ago he had penned a letter to Madam Bones of the DMLE. Her niece was a student in his year so this should have an effect on her, it also gave her someone she trusted to corroborate the story with. He had put on a hooded cloak and tucked his hair out of sight. The cloak shadowed his eyes making his face indiscernible, the floor length cloak was fastened in front so he was completely hidden.

He didn't know where the Ministry of Magic was so he couldn't go straight there. Instead he took himself and Len to the Leaky Cauldron and paid a single silver sickle for use of the floo. He stepped into the fireplace and Len curled herself in his arm as he clearly intoned "Ministry of Magic" and with that the two vanished into the floo network.

It was the most uncomfortable experience either of them had had. They stayed as still as they could as they watched fireplace after fireplace flicker past. Harry reinforced his eyes and his reactions and observed some of the ones they passed. He saw a large hall lined with portraits, he saw a rather cosy looking kitchen, he saw what he thought was the headmaster's office if Dumbledore sat behind the desk was any indication and those where just a few of the ones he caught sight of.

He was spat out of a fire and he stumbled a moment to regain his balance. He straightened and looked around. People where hurrying about in and out of the fires which flared whenever the floo powder was thrown on them, there was a fountain presided over by the most ridiculous golden statues Harry had ever seen. Wizards decried centaurs, goblins and house-elves as substandard and build such egocentric statues that Harry was surprised that they hadn't wiped themselves out in war by this point. If he had been displayed as such then he would certainly have made his displeasure known, it was sickening.

Harry opened his cloak enough for Len to set herself on the ground and he handed the letter to her. "I will wait for you here, take care of yourself." and so saying he kissed the top of her head as Len took off with his letter in her mouth. No one paid any attention to the cat weaving in between there legs.

xxxxx

Amelia Bones sat in her office and leaned back. It had been nearly a month since her niece and ward had left for Hogwarts. Susan was such a delight to raise though it was such a shame she didn't have much spare time as the head of the DMLE to attend to her. Amelia had been horrified when the poor girl's parents had been slaughtered at the end of the last war. Everyone thought that it was now safe with You-know-who gone and the celebrations had begun. That no one had ever found the ones responsible was just another reason for Amelia to apply herself both in law enforcement and to be there for her orphaned niece.

It had been a quiet day today. There was usual a spike in crime around the start of the children's holidays much to her displeasure but since she had been promoted to head of department she was out on the street less and was able to delegate such tasks. She looked at the photos on her desk, there was one of Susan shortly after she had been born cradled in her mother's arms who was stood with Susan's father and one of an eleven year old Susan in her new Hogwarts uniform grinning widely.

She looked up as she saw her door open but no one came through. She had her wand in her hand in an instant and cast a quick hominum revelio. It came up negative. She edged closer to her door and took a glance out, the corridor looked no different than usual. There was the usual hurry of people from one section to another and none of them looked anymore concerned than was normal. She sighed, she was getting wound up for nothing. She turned towards her desk.

She came face to face with a black cat sat there, she locked eyes with the feline before taking note of the letter in its mouth. Amelia raised her eyebrow "For me?" she asked and the cat nodded in reply before dropping the letter on he desk. Amelia cast a quick few detection spells at the letter and came back with nothing but parchment, ink and wax. She quickly put the letter in the top drawer of her desk before following after the departing cat. It was quite distinctive and easy to follow even if most didn't care about what a cat was doing. She followed it into an elevator and cast a disillusionment charm on her self. The cat seemed to be looking right at her and laughing, there was definite amusement in those intelligent red eyes.

Amelia was concerned. If it wasn't for her hominum revelio spell showing that the cat wasn't human she would have guessed it to be an unregistered animagus but that wasn't the case. The cat saw nothing wrong with Amelia following her as if it had nothing to hide. She made note of the large black bow and the pompoms that hung around the cat's neck. That would help identify the cat if that was what it normally wore.

She followed the cat all the way to the atrium where the cat wandered over to a cloaked figure hidden in the shadows in the corner. The cloak was pulled back for a moment and Amelia caught a flash of purple before the figure knelt and picked the cat up before disappearing without a sound.

Amelia headed back to her office in confusion. The deliverer of the letter wished to remain anonymous but they seemed to hold no ill-will towards her. If she had not already checked the letter she would have expected an attempt on her life or something given the cloak and dagger nature of delivery.

Back in her office she retook her seat and placed the letter on the table in front of her. Her curiosity got the better of her and she opened it. She read through the letter and then read it again to make sure she hadn't been mistaken.

She was livid. If this letter was to be believed a student had cast the rotting death curse in the great hall in front of the entire school and had not even been reprimanded for it. She would have to ask Susan about this and see if a duel had actually taken place before using the letter alone as proof.

xxxxx

A few days later Amelia was looking at Susan's reply. Yes, there had been a duel but that was all the letter said. Amelia was a little disturbed by this. Susan knew when she asked about something that she wanted to know about it, this short reply was most unlike her. It looked like she would be investigating this matter at Hogwarts and this was something she would not be delegating. She'd also be checking the owlery while she was there for any disruptive enchantments.

It took a while to get the paperwork sorted but as soon as she sent her letter to the headmaster she took herself and two aurors to Hogwarts. She would get this sorted as soon as possible.

As she walked up the path to the school she could see Dumbledore himself hurrying out of the castle towards her, the letter she'd sent in his hand. She'd been so annoyed at the old man when he advocated shorter sentences for the death eaters at their trials when they had been rounded up at the end of the war and as the chief warlock he had the right to administer veritaserum and had not used it. Amelia might respect the man for his achievements but his morals where something she would never agree with, she believed in proper punishment not this twisted form of rehabilitation that Dumbledore supported.

Dumbledore soon arrived before her and started talking "My dear Amelia, can I ask why you are here?" he did not want interference at Hogwarts, it was HIS domain.

"Stuff it headmaster, that letter in your hand should tell you why I am here. There was a duel here where an illegal curse was used. I'll need to ask the staff and student to recount the events and formulate a follow up report based on that. The actions I take then will depend on the report that is compiled." Dumbledore didn't move out of the way.

"There's no need for something that extreme, it was just a slight disagreement between students that has already been resolved. It is best to leave these things alone and not incite tempers again." Amelia would have none of it.

"That is for me to decide headmaster. That the duel took place here has no baring on whom should investigate a report of illegal curses." In reality she should have delegated the task but there was no reason she shouldn't investigate personally. "Now can you at least tell me the name of the two students in the duel. I will set up in one of the questions before sending for those I wish to question. I will start with you."

Amelia marched round Dumbledore's ineffectual attempts at stopping her and strode into the castle. The students in the great hall watched as she and her aurors walked past the doorway and towards the room where the first years had waited for their sorting. Looking over her shoulder she saw that Dumbledore had followed them there. Setting up a dictation quill and parchment she began her questioning.

xxxxx

It was a number of hours later when the last of the students she was interviewing had left, she had done two per year per house to get as accurate picture as she could. She had done the staff after Albus and had asked for Mcgonagall and Snape to be the ones to answer her questions.

Surprisingly, for her at least, the Slytherin head was the one more forthcoming with answers. Minerva had sat rigidly on her chair and declared the whole duel a ridiculous farce that should not have been enacted to begin with, most unhelpful. Snape however had described the spells used at the start, purely by Mr. Malfoy and how Mr. Potter merely dodged them all. When she asked why he didn't cast back she found what the terms of the duel had been. She had found the entire premise ridiculous and all about soothing a pureblood prince's bruised ego. She snorted, she could already guess that Lucius Malfoy was greasing palms as she spoke.

After the majority of the students had been questioned she decided to ask the two participants themselves about the events to see how their stories added up. Before she could however the door creaked open and Susan stepped inside.

"Auntie, I've heard that you've been asking about the duel a week ago. Rumour is that you received a report from an anonymous source. Why didn't you react to it when I mentioned it in a letter?" Amelia's eyes narrowed, her monocle digging into her.

"The first thing I knew of it was when a strange cat delivered a letter to my office." Susan's eyes lit up.

"A black cat? One with red eyes, a large black bow and pompoms hanging off it?" She asked. Amelia wondered about that. If the cat was that recognisable she could find who had sent it.

"Keep it to yourself but yes that's right. Do you know this cat?" If she did this would be so much easier.

"Yes, Harry has a cat just like it. It's always with him except in potions and herbology. It never leaves his side and spends most of its time sat on his shoulder." Well that at least gave her a suspect as to who sent the letter. No wonder he had been so wrapped up, as famous as he was he would have been mobbed by the public.

Amelia spoke a little more with her niece before saying goodbye and sending one of her aurors to retrieve Draco Malfoy for questioning. She looked at what she had recorded while she waited. It was pretty damning stuff. The duel definitely did take place and even Dumbledore had said so, he had been so slippery when being questioned and answered everything with a question or half-truth, that was confirmed. The spells used where also rather typical, at least to start with. Draco Malfoy had apparently used a variety of curses ranging from a disarmer to a stunner to cutting curses and the like but nothing beyond that. It wasn't until that he got frustrated by Mr. Potter casually side-stepping every spell sent his way that Malfoy decided to use the rotting death curse.

It was then that the duel became interesting to her. Aside from the use of a deadly dark curse it was how Mr. Potter had replied for that which was the most curious bit of it. Apparently he had back handed the curse with his bare skin and had not just received no injury from what would normally be a foolish action but had actually redirected the curse which had proceeded to eat through the duelling shields that had been set up and consume the headmaster's chair. Given the way the headmaster had been acting she had to wonder if Mr. Potter had aimed that spell, she wouldn't have blamed him if he actually had.

The spells, if that's what they where, that Harry Potter had used where not anything that could be recognised. Professor Snape had said he'd never even seen their like before and he was aware of a far greater range of spells than she was due to his learning of the dark arts and other branches of magic. Apparently he had wandlessly summoned a number of ghostly blue orbs which had launched his opponent into the air and proceeded to bombard him impacting him with physical force leaving him bruised and bleeding afterwards. Mr. Potter had then pointed at Mr. Malfoy and a black orb had appeared at the tip of his finger before launching itself at the defeated Slytherin. This had Amelia curious and she would definitely ask him about them when she questioned him.

She looked up as the door opened and auror Tinwhistle led a strutting Draco Malfoy in to the room. She regarded him carefully as he sat across from her. Either he was supremely confident in himself or he was an idiot. She started off the questioning by addressing the dicta-quill on the table between them.

"Dicta-quill on. This is Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement questioning Draco Malfoy on the events on Tuesday the twenty-fourth of September nineteen ninety-one. Also in attendance are senior auror Myers and junior auror Tinwhistle. Questioning now begins. Mr. Malfoy what can you tell me about the events preceding the duel itself?"

Draco looked at Madam Bones as he answered "I was minding my own business as I was leaving the great hall when I passed Harry Potter at the Hufflepuff table and heard him make disparaging remarks against my character and then I..." Amelia interrupted him.

"Can you tell us what Mr. Potter said about you that made you turn around?" This hadn't been in any reports so far and if he couldn't give examples then he was likely lying.

"I'd rather not repeat such things, suffice to say they where very disrespectful of someone of superior breeding." Amelia frowned at this. That could be taken as if Mr. Potter had insulted him because he was a pureblood or it could simply be Malfoy trying to use his status as a boost to his argument. Nevertheless she let him continue.

"I politely request that he stop with such comments and he replied that every one was true. I admit I acted foolishly when I challenged him but he disregarded me saying he didn't need a wand to win such a duel. I wanted to show everyone what Potter was and the duel was made public. We duelled then and there. At first he did nothing but dodge my spells and nothing else. I decided to use a curse I had come across in a book I had found in the library. It had not been in the restricted section so there shouldn't have been a problem and there was no warning about it being illegal. I may be guilty of using an unknown spell but no one could be held accountable of it in such a circumstance. When that was done Potter did something. I don't know what and the incantation he used I did not recognise. I remember being pelted from all sides like someone had taken a beaters bat to me. I collapsed on the floor and I could see some foul black _thing_ at the end of Potter's finger before I passed out. I spent the next day and a half in the hospital wing recovering from whatever Potter did to me. I find it deplorable that he remains unpunished." The spells seemed to match up with the other accounts but she didn't believe for a minute that the boy had found an illegal curse in the library that easily. The only books that could describe that should be in the restricted section and those would give a name and description and not the actual incantation necessary to cast it.

"May I ask what book this was that you found the spell in?" She doubted she'd get an answer and like a god of prophecy she was right.

"I don't recall. I was just browsing the shelves at random through boredom so I couldn't even tell you where it was." She had expected no less but dismissed him and asked Tinwhistle to fetch Mr. Potter while she looked over what the quill had recorded.

It was irritating. The boy had confessed to using it but without malicious intent the worst that she could do at present was levy a fine of five hundred galleons against him for irresponsible use of unknown spells and put a black mark on his record. A respectable amount but not much when it came to the vast Malfoy fortunes, as the Malfoys where primarily investors then the mark on his record wouldn't mean much of anything. She sat there and waited for the final person she wished to question to arrive.

xxxxx

Harry had heard about the investigation going on and had kept out of the way. Len had been sat in the shadows and with Shared Perception they both watched who went in and out of the room. They saw as Amelia Bones took in a variety of different students for their statements: male, female, all blood statuses and all years. Harry approved with the measures she was taking to get the full story. He was unsurprised when Susan Bones herself went in, she had not been summoned by the younger auror so it was likely she went to visit her aunt than for any purpose involving the investigation.

When Draco Malfoy went in Harry decided to return to the castle from where he was, the edge of the forest, in preparation for when he was called. He avoided the students as he made his way there, using Len to scout where people where and was soon hidden in the shadows where Len had been all this time.

He watched as Draco Malfoy left the room. He was strutting around as if he owned the castle, Harry wondered how his statement had gone. He didn't have to wait long until the younger auror left the room. Harry stepped forward.

"Looking for me?" The auror jumped out of his skin as he turned around to find a slim young child. The voice had been quiet but high pitched. The boy was odd "Harry Potter?" He asked haltingly. He wasn't expecting this to be the wizarding worlds saviour. The boy nodded anyway and stepped towards the door, a strange cat perched on his shoulder.

As he stepped into the room Harry looked around. There was a desk with Madam Bones sat behind it, to her left was a man wearing auror robes who appeared to be in his sixties. The auror that had led him in sat on Madam Bones' other side. Looking up she furrowed her brow at him and asked "You would be?" Harry sighed, it seemed the law enforcement didn't even recognise him despite all the statements she had received. Perhaps she had focused on actions and forgot to get a physical profile or maybe she believed those stories about how he looked.

"My name is Harry Potter. I believe that your auror was looking for me or am I wrong?" Amelia rose her eyebrows at that. She was older than both Lily Evans and James Potter, she'd been years ahead of them but she still knew what the two looked like. This boy before her looked like neither one of them. He looked nothing like the stories would have you believe either but there on his shoulder was that cat that she had seen and Susan said it never left Harry Potter's side.

"You are right and I guess I have you to thank for bringing this to my attention." The boy didn't react in any visible way. He cocked his head to one side and said.

"I do believe that this is the first time we've met unless you're referring to prior November nineteen eighty-one in which case I do hope you forgive me in forgetting you." Amelia gave him a sharp glance just to see his lip twitch a minute amount. She almost laughed. Here was someone who was going to be totally honest with her but wasn't giving anything away. She preferred it to constant evasion like what Dumbledore peddled.

"Very well then," She turned and addressed the dicta-quill on her desk, activating it and giving all of the necessary legal information to make it official before turning back to Harry. "What can you tell me of the events preceding the duel?"

"Myself and Draco Malfoy have never seen eye to eye, even at our first meeting on the train here. He referred to myself as a half-breed freak based on my appearance alone, to Neville Longbottom as a squib and complained of the stench of mud when he saw another with us, muggle-born Hermione Granger. I asked him to leave us be and he refused telling us that a freak like me needs to learn my place and that I and the rabble and that there was plenty of room for the right sort of person. I told him to quit it or he'll regret it and he ordered Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle to 'show me what a freak gets at Hogwarts'. I did not like the implications and restrained and overcame all three without causing a single injury except, if the smell was correct, for Draco Malfoy urinating on himself. They left the compartment and Mr. Malfoy's parting comment was 'wait until my father hears about this'." Harry stopped and waited for the quill to finish writing what he had been saying.

Amelia was rather curious about the method that Harry had used to chase the three off with. "How did you cause the three to leave you alone?" Harry looked back up at her and replied.

"With a lesser form of what they used against us. They attempted to use actual violence and I used the threat of violence. I was successful. I would have used another method but they would not respond to reasoning nor our requests. It seems to be the only language they understand." Amelia nodded before asking him to recount the day of the duel.

"I was sat at the Hufflepuff table. I tend to sit apart from the others as I am not one for idle chatter. I could feel someone's glare on me and I looked around behind my blindfold and my sight came to rest on Malfoy. He rose from his chair and approached me with Crabbe and Goyle beside him. He challenged me to a duel saying that I would be no challenge to a real wizard. I told him that I have no wish to turn my wand upon him and he took the statement to mean that I would duel him without a wand as I was informed by Cedric Diggory of my own house whilst Malfoy approached the staff table. I was beckoned up there and told that the duel was to be immediately in front of the staff and students of the great hall. I handed my wand over to Bathsheda Babbling for the duels duration." Amelia nodded again. He was providing a surprising amount of detail and she would have to check with this Cedric Diggory about his claims. The name Diggory wasn't unfamiliar to her as there was an Amos Diggory who worked in the Department for the regulation and control of magical creatures.

"And what happened during the duel?" This was the interesting bit. She needed to know what his view of it was and how it corroborated with the rest of the statements.

"I did not have a wand with which to cast so I wanted Malfoy tired out. He cast a number of spells at me that can be found on the Hogwarts syllabus even if they weren't first year spells. They included stunning spells, cutting curses and gouging and piercing hexes. He aimed primarily for the torso making it easier to predict and dodge his attacks. I will admit I was getting excited. I could feel the adrenaline in my system knowing that a single bad dodge would have me injured and requiring medical help. It was then that Malfoy cast the rotting death curse at me and me, being high on adrenaline, decided to swat the curse aside where it ate through the duelling shield placed around us and destroyed the headmaster's chair. I decided that enough was enough and proceeded to knock my opponent out. I conjured semi-corporeal orbs of force with which to impact him. I was surprised when he remained conscious and hit him with a gandr curse to keep him down and, as he was now out cold, I was the victor of the duel."

"You conjured these force orbs wandlessly and this gandr curse was also wandless?" She had to ask.

Harry nodded and a single orb appeared above his shoulder. He also raised his hand and pointed at the wall. A black orb appeared there. "The orb currently over my left shoulder is something of my own making. As it is it can do little more than leave a bruise. The gandr curse which I currently have pointed at the wall is an obscure and rather unknown Scandinavian sickness curse that causes a general lack of health. It lasts between twelve hours and several days depending on the energy put behind it." With that the two orbs dissipated and faded away.

Amelia had been eyeing the two balls of energy warily before returning her attention back to the one who had caused them to appear. "In the statements already given they said that you incanted something before summoning your force orbs. Why did you not this time?"

Harry looked at her and said. "This time I only summoned one. When I duelled Draco one could have been easily avoided and as such I conjured a great deal more. If I create more than five or so then I do need my aria for the task." Harry didn't feel too bad about telling the DMLE this. The records weren't available to the general public and as such the only ones who could find out would be anyone who wanted to open the case and they would have to go through official channels. Amelia Bones from what Harry had found had a reputation for abiding by the law. As this incident happened at Hogwarts that means anyone that held a position at that institution would also have to go through official channels meaning Dumbledore could not simply appropriate the file due to his other positions.

Amelia had no more questions for Harry and dismissed him as she went back over the interview. Everything that she had officially asked had been answered completely and she had even got to see an example of the magic he used. Nevertheless she got the feeling that Harry had held an awful lot back as well. He had not told her what the incantation or aria, as he put it, was nor had he told her the maximum number of orbs he could produce. He had not told her what else he could do or why he could do it. In hind-sight her report was drastically short of details and she was only now realising it. She wanted to tear her hair out in frustration.

xxxxx

Over the next month news about Malfoy being fined five hundred galleons for irresponsible use of an unknown spell as well as having to pay for the headmaster's new chair managed to rein in the ferret somewhat. He still glared at Harry during every lesson they shared and whenever they passed in the corridors. He also continued to mutter derogatory comments under his breath that Harry's sharp ears caught anyway but even he was not stupid enough to comment on his family, he did have _some _survival instincts no matter how stunted they had become.

The red head on the other hand was just as obnoxious as ever and had taken to sniping at Hermione as well. Every time he did so he always awoke either in pain, in a compromising position or both, He also always awoke screaming about a red-eyed blue-haired girl that was starting to become a school myth that appeared to torment the youngest Weasley male whenever he was alone. Whenever one of these rumours was mentioned in range of Harry, the boy found he couldn't look at Len and maintain a straight face.

It all came to a head on Halloween. Which landed on a Thursday that year. Gryffindor had double charms first thing and Hufflepuffs a single period after lunch. Harry was free that morning and, after his daily work on reaction tables, went walking around the castle. At the start of lunch he headed off towards the kitchens. He had no wish to be amongst other people right now. Today was the anniversary of the day he became an orphan. Being in the school and doing the magic that his parents would have done brought it all crashing down on Harry like it never had before. He supposed that being surrounded by reminders of his dead parents whenever a professor compared him to oner or the other and simply being in an environment that they spent a lot of time in wasn't helping.

He had first entered the kitchen when he had baked a cake for Len's birthday on September ninth. That day hadn't gone completely to plan as it was the Monday after his first weekend away but Len seemed to appreciate his cake after anyway.

He'd been down a few times since then and had brought recipe books with him and cooked with the house-elves on occasion. As a result, the meals getting sent up to the great hall where much more balanced and healthier, he also improved some of the recipes while he was at it. Hermione had even commented on it at one point which was certainly a boost to Harry's ego. The elves had let him analyse them as well and he'd been able to figure out a bounded field that could keep them away, it was a dastardly tricky thing, Harry had spent two weeks trying to work it out.

Regardless, Harry decided to eat his meals down there today and avoid the festivities in the great hall. After a good meal of fish and fruit, something he was rather fond of, he left for his charms theory lesson where they learnt about the difference between directly used charms and constant use charms, the former being something immediate like a colour change charm and the latter being something gradual like the levitation charm. Apparently the Gryffindors had been learning just such a charm that morning.

The lesson following that was defence and Harry looked around the room for Hermione as soon as he stepped in, she usually beat him there this period. He didn't see her. Sliding down beside Neville he asked about Hermione. The Longbottom heir glared in the direction of Weasel, that confidence boost had really done its job, and told him of how said redhead had insulted her after charms that morning and hadn't been seen since. Harry spared a glare for the ginger menace silently promising to find a way of introducing him to Primate Murder without anyone being suspicious of him.

Harry didn't concentrate very hard that lesson and as such missed most of what Quirrel was saying about vampires. What he did here almost had him rolling in laughter, the 'strongest' vampires of this world would be nothing to all but the weakest of apostles in his own and the way they feared them was humorous to him. He wondered if he should ever bring Arc or Altrouge along to any of his lessons before dismissing the idea as silly. He waited for the lesson to be over so he could hunt down Hermione and fix whatever the Weasel had done to her. As it was, no sooner had Quirrel dismissed them than Harry was already a fading after-image left behind where he was before.

xxxxx

How hard could it be, Harry thought, to find a single girl in a castle? He hadn't counted on not being able to get a whiff of her prana scent that smelled of old books and dusty tomes. Wherever she was she had been there a while without moving around to give him a trail to follow. He was irritated by this when he eventually did get a scent in his nose.

Unfortunately for him this scent was more real than a way of identifying magic. Harry stood there as a troll walked across the corridor and entered a room to his right hand side. Harry didn't care about the troll, it had done nothing to him so hee wasn't going to bother it.

That was true up until he heard the feminine scream that gave him a sinking feeling.

Harry reinforced his body to its limit and raced back to where the troll had gone. Harry ripped the door off its hinges in his haste to get by. There, crouched frozen in fear, was Hermione with the massive troll raising its proportionally large club down towards the unmoving girl.

Harry really didn't think about what he was doing next, he just did it.

He dived across to Hermione with his reinforcement and managed to grab her and roll out of the way but not before taking a hit with that troll's massive weapon. Harry could already feel the bruise forming across his back. If it hadn't been for his reinforcement and the fact the tree trunk in the troll's hand had some give in it due to the freshness of the material then he would surely be greeting death right about now. He had managed to get them both out of the way but now the troll was between them and the exit.

Dammit, this really wasn't looking too pretty right now. "_**My soul is a weapon**_" he intoned and with that a halberd appeared in his hands. It was almost two metres long from the end of the shaft to the tip of the blade. Runes for various effects where engraved on the blade itself and, most deadly of all, the blade was coated in gorgon venom. Harry remembered when he had tried Shirou's 'tracing' out and he could only manage things he was rather familiar with. This halberd was one such thing, he had been there when the base weapon had been forged and shaped, he had etched the runes there himself and it had been him to coat the blade in gorgon venom.

Since his blood adoption he had been unaffected by snake venom and now, years later, it would take something potent to slow him down so the venom coated blade was ideal for him. If he managed to nick or cut himself he needn't worry overly much on the effects and he had a fairly lethal weapon to hand. The weapons he favoured where the halberd and kusarigama, he also was fond of the chains that had been forged and then etched with runes too.

He placed himself between the troll and Hermione as the club came down. He braced himself with reinforcement and held the shaft up to meet the club. Harry was hammered down and he could feel his joints protesting. He looked up as the troll pulled the club back again and he rapidly traced chains that he threw towards the trolls legs. The chains wrapped around them and the troll tottered for a moment but stayed upright.

In the intervening time Harry had pulled his arm back and released the halberd in an overarm throw as if it was a javelin with a cry of "Thurisaz!" a rune on the blade above the hilt crackled with electricity that flowed over the blade as it arced its way towards the troll.

The blade flew for the troll's head but was knocked a little aside by the troll's flailing club. It clipped the troll's temple and the electricity arced across part of its face and ear. This enraged the troll who now looked at them through one good eye and one charred one. The ear on the side of its head was now nothing more than a blackened and burnt lump and a tracery of burns covered part of its face, it was a shame the the heat from the lightning weakened the gorgon venom as it did.

The troll roared at them in rage and ran towards them. Harry thought he would try something to get out of the way. He grabbed Hermione and with her over his shoulder he jumped sideways towards the wall willing it with all his might to remain there.

He did. He was now stood horizontally on a wall. He got over his shock quickly though as he still had to deal with a rampaging troll. He ran up the wall and round before throwing Hermione bodily from the room. She was out of harms way and he could now focus on killing the troll instead of defending her.

He sized it up and was not happy with the result. Trolls had notoriously magic resistant skin and the only reason his spear had worked was because he'd channelled a large amount of prana into it before incanting the lightning rune etched on it. A purely magic attack was next to useless against something like this. He was now so pissed that he'd had Len searching elsewhere in the castle for Hermione, it would take far too long for her to reach him now.

Harry traced another blade, this one a two handed claymore and he maintained his reinforcement as he jumped at the troll and started trying to embed the blade into his foe while avoiding the wild swings of the club. He aimed for joints and what would be pressure points on a human but that damnable thick skin was such a hindrance. One lucky swing from the troll and Harry's right hand was crushed as the blade was knocked from his grip.

He traced another blade, a one handed gladius and set to work. Unlike the large claymore the smaller gladius was designed for thrusts and its sharp point aided Harry in forcing the sharp blade through the troll's thick skin, allowing the blade to penetrate deeper into the beast.

The troll appeared woozy. The gorgon venom was taking its toll and had spread rapidly through its system. When the venom reached the brain it would be over but the troll didn't seem to want to go easily, there was also how the venom wasn't fresh and quickly lost strength despite it being the one of the most potent of venoms when used immediately.

It moved drunkenly towards the doorway and Harry would not let it set one foot further into the castle proper. He couldn't tell when another would come by and he would not risk another interfering if it became a prolonged fight. Hermione was already gone and his reinforced ears picked up no signs of any bar him and the troll being nearby.

He would use it, the greatest weapon he currently had, he would hope that it would be enough to stop the troll in its tracks.

Harry reached up and with one hand he gripped the side of his blindfold. With his back to the doorway and the troll the only thing before him he could be sure that this was safe.

There was a tiny click that was barely noticeable but that was the sign that he could remove the blindfold which he ripped off his face.

He matched eyes with the troll and forced as much prana into his eyes as he could. They glowed brightly and his multi-coloured glare did not move from the troll as he fed them a ridiculous amount of prana in order to petrify his target. The troll wobbled about on his still chained legs but once he matched gazes with Harry it was all over. His eyes despite using mystic means to convey it carried a physical effect that the troll's hide wouldn't be able to counter.

Ordinarily it would take a full second for him to turn a non-magical human to stone and three for any of the wizards of his world. The troll would be even slower taking about thirty seconds of constant eye contact. This wasn't ordinary circumstances though, Harry was actively pouring as much prana as he could towards his mystic eyes effect.

The troll managed to take four steps before the stone had completely overtaken its body.

Harry collapsed on the floor, completely wiped out. He replaced his blindfold back on his face and laid back. He could feel the bruise that was making itself known on his back where the troll's club had hit him but he didn't care much for that. He healed much quicker than most and it would be gone in a day or two.

Harry heard footsteps rapidly approaching and turned to find Hermione accompanied by several professors approaching from down the corridor. It was always when things where over did the cavalry arrive. He didn't want to show them his petrifying effect but he didn't have the time to do much about it as they soon arrived in the doorway.

Dumbledore looked pleased to come and rescue him and Harry swore he saw a smug grin on his face. That was until they saw the troll however, or should he say amazingly accurate troll statue done in granite.

"Mr. Potter, I think we need an explanation."

xxxxx

It was in the great hall that Susan Bones was the first to notice their table's missing occupant. Since her auntie's investigation she had spoken to Harry now and then, not enough to be friends but she had had more contact than most with him. A quick glance around the hall showed no sign of purple anywhere apart from Dumbledore's robes. She was just about to ask everyone what was going on when professor Quirrel came rushing into the hall with his turban askew and a flushed expression on his face. The entire hall went silent as he rushed halfway up to the head table before crying out.

"Troll! Troll! Troll in the dungeons! Thought you ought to know" before fainting dead on the spot. The entire hall erupted in pandemonium at that until several loud firecrackers from Dumbledore's wand managed to get everyone's attention.

"QUIET! All students are to follow their prefects to their common rooms. Myself and the staff will-" He was cut off by the doors opening again but this time an unkempt and slightly bruised Hermione Granger burst into the hall screaming.

"Harry's fighting a troll, second floor! Help him!" Everyone's eyes went wide at that. Their mysterious first year was now having a tangle with a troll? What wasn't that boy going to do.

"Very well Miss Granger, lead the way. It seems that our troll has moved since Quirinus made his escape. All students are to remain here. All staff except Severus and Minerva defend them. You two, with me. Quirinus you come as well. Perhaps you can tell me if it is the same troll when we find it." Dumbledore called as he made his way out of the hall.

The four professors hurried off towards the second floor where even now sounds of battle could be heard. Quirrel seemed reluctant to continue the chase and was at the back of the line. If it wasn't for Snape's eye on him he may just have fled, the coward.

They rounded a corner to see Harry Potter halfway out of the door, he had one hand on his blindfold as if to remove it but why was anyone's guess. They looked past him to see the troll frozen in mid-step. There was chains wrapped around its ankles and a halberd embedded in a wall that was webbed with scorch marks and the blade was slick with blood, there was a claymore near the destroyed sinks and that was also soaked in blood as well as the shorter blade that lay at Harry's feet.

Dumbledore stepped towards harry and spoke "Mr. Potter, I think we need an explanation."


	12. Up to the Holidays

AN: A slight delay in this chapter as I went through all the others and tried to fix mistakes in point of view and anyone sees something I didn't please let me know what and where it is and I'll fix it. I made little modifications here and there, nothing major. There is also an already ridiculous number of omakes in the thread: topic/139203/95299150 and they have been compiled by roughstar333 in one place here: s/9654216/1/Fate-s-Gambl e-Omake-Edition

I have also added another poll to my profile regarding servants for Harry. This does not mean that the servant with most votes will be his but a means of mean getting an idea of what people like and so on and so forth.

Enjoy the chapter

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 12 – Up to the Holidays

"I couldn't tell you headmaster. If you have an explanation for why the 'safest' place in the country had a troll loose that was attacking students then I'd be glad to hear it." Harry opined.

Dumbledore was brought up abrupt. "Now Harry. I don't think that is relevant right now, I wa-" Harry was having none of it though.

"I think it's very relevant. What are you going to tell the parents of the children who may even now be writing letters to their parents about a troll loose in the castle? Hermione was rather distressed and I mean no offence but I doubt she'd keep quiet in such a circumstance." Harry looked directly at Dumbledore with folded arms. Snape had a smirk on his face as he watched an eleven year old get the best of Albus Dumbledore.

"Now Harry, we need to know what happened during your encounter with the troll. It is very important." Harry smirked. If it was information the old coot wanted then he would oblige, after a fashion anyway.

"Ronald Weasley had insulted Hermione here and she had not turned up to lessons. As a concerned friend I went to look for her. I came across a troll that entered this room from which a feminine scream soon rang. I entered the room to see the troll with its club raised over her. I knocked her aside out of the clubs path. I then picked her up and threw her through the doorway. I turned to the troll, I didn't want it to get further into the school, and prevented it leaving. As you can see I was successful." There, that told them everything and nothing all at once.

"That is a rather short explanation Mr. Potter." Dumbledore just didn't seem to want to let it go.

"Here's a shorter one. Magic" Harry dead panned.

"Mr. Potter, can you please give a more detailed description of events after you threw Miss Granger from the room?" He really wasn't going to let this go.

"Headmaster, can you give me a satisfactory reason why a troll can access a school and wander round undeterred?" Harry said as he walked past the headmaster and to Hermione who was stood there staring at the troll statue in shock. "Hermione, I am sure that crying in a bathroom is rather exhausting work and as such we should refuel ourselves at what is undoubtedly a sumptuous feast." She looked at him and seemed to come to herself a bit before Harry turned and said over his shoulder "Oh. I think that rather accurate statue of a troll is a little on the ugly side. You can keep it."

Mcgonagall muttered "Why would we want one?" as he walked past her and Harry couldn't help but grin.

xxxxx

The whole hall looked at them as they walked in. Hermione was about to go to the Gryffindor table when Harry said that she was welcome to sit with him. She glanced over at the Gryffindors to see the absolute mess that Weasel was making, he had food all down his robe and had less table manners than the troll they had left behind. Hermione grimaced at the sight then gratefully accepted.

The two sat at the Hufflepuff table and began to eat. It was Susan Bones who broke the silence.

"Was what Hermione said about you fighting a troll true Harry?" She asked. Harry paused in cutting up the steak he so wanted to devour and looked up at her.

"I've taken care of it." He returned back to his meal as conversations broke out around the hall. These conversations soon stopped however when Dumbledore, Snape and Mcgonagall levitated the troll together as they walked past the doors and headed out the front doors. Everyone turned wide eyes at the boy now nibbling on some bread he had dunked in pumpkin soup. He was doing so with his left hand, his right being hidden beneath the table. He completely ignored all the looks he received and the Gryffindor sat beside him followed his lead.

"So," Hannah Abbot said to Hermione "I'm Hannah Abbot. I don't think we've ever been properly introduced and, unlike the one sat beside you, we actually need one." Soon several others had joined in the conversation. Hermione was beginning to regret telling the hat to put her in Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw like it wanted to. She might have actually had friends there. These Hufflepuffs weren't stupid but they were friendly and that was what she needed right now.

xxxxx

Hermione was happier now than she could ever remember being. Her parents were dentists that had their own surgery and they were away most of the day. When she was younger she'd been left with a nanny. The nanny they had hired seemed more interested in watching soaps on TV than looking after the toddler.

Her parents weren't bad people. They were very busy and didn't have as much time for their daughter as they would like. Whenever they had free days they would go out for a drive together. They would go to the beach one day and a forest the next. Hermione loved her parents dearly despite how little she saw of them.

Once she was a bit older she started staying home alone. Their home had a small library in it that Hermione used to climb before she knew how to read. Once she did know how to read however it became a room for more than just a climbing frame.

The young girl devoured every book she could get her hands on. She loved fantasy and supernatural books the best. She had a scientifically oriented mind and was fascinated by the things that couldn't be explained by it whether that be magic or ghosts or something else.

At school she became an outcast. She knew everything the teacher said and when she tried to help the other kids she was told that she was bossy and a know-it-all. She had become more and more separate from her classmates, wishing she could be a part of the group but always feeling left out and alone.

When she had gotten her Hogwarts letter delivered by her now head of house she had been ecstatic. This was something new, something that maybe she could relate to other people with, a way to make friends. Her parents had been more sceptical until the woman had turned into a cat before their very eyes. They had then been quite curious about it all and had set up a date to go to Diagon Alley all together.

It was there that she had met the enigma that was Harry Potter. He hadn't seemed to care what the professor thought of him and had completely blanked her to begin with. She had thought that rather rude and had told him so but he had replied that she was the rude one, demanding to know personal information as she had. It had shocked her and made her think. She had come to the conclusion that he was right. She had later asked him what he thought of the dark arts when they'd gone for their wands and was again shocked. He held completely different views to what a normal person would. Instead of simply accepting the way things are as she would usually she thought about what he said. She had compared how he thought with what their guide had made evident about her opinion and found she actually preferred his way of thinking.

She had come across books with his name on in the bookshop. She had been somewhat starstruck. Despite the difference in appearance she had been shopping with a CELEBRITY and she hadn't known it. When Harry had torn apart the books as fiction and not fact she heard him say that he had killed before. She might agree that he was right about some things but why would an eleven year old have blood on their hands? She resolved to get to know him better and find out.

It was on the Hogwarts express where she first saw how attentive he could be. He had seen right through that redhead that she had been eager to get to know and when the blonde boy had come in with his large 'friends' she had shrunk down in the corner. Not Harry though, the first boy had left declaring him to be dark and the second had actually pissed himself in fright. Even she had been scared of what she saw and it hadn't been directed at her.

At Hogwarts everyone seemed to have expectations of him and he shrugged off every single one. He just didn't care about any of it! That had gone on and everything had quietened down until the duel between him and Malfoy happened. She had seen him hand over his wand for it, and who gives up a weapon in a duel? She had expected him to loose and loose badly but he had once again surprised everyone and displayed some kind of wandless magic that he used to beat his opponent down with.

She had immediately tried to research it but had come up with nothing, not a damn thing, that was like what he had done. She had then gone on to ask him about it directly. This probably hadn't been the best idea seeing as how everyone else had been nagging him about it. She had received some answers but was told she, herself, would never be able to do it. He'd also said that no other witch or wizard would either and what was that word he'd used, magus?

She'd still kept an eye on him even after everything that had happened. She was rather depressed in Gryffindor house; her dorm-mates were only interested in girly things like fashion and accessories, the house in general was lazy and incompetent. How half of them passed their exams when they spent more time playing games than anything else she couldn't understand. She had looked over to the Hufflepuff table from time to time and saw that though Harry didn't often speak to the others he still could do so if he wanted.

It had all become too much for her and when Ronald Weasley had insulted and mocked her in charms she couldn't take any more and had rushed to the bathroom to cry it all out.

She had been in there all day when she heard a noise as if someone was heaving something heavy down the corridor. She had gotten out of the cubicle only to come face to face with a troll. She screamed. Her attention though was caught by the door to the girls' bathroom being destroyed as Harry flew through it at impossible speeds. He had knocked her aside and took a heavy blow from the troll in turn. She thought he had died but he had gotten straight up and used more of his unusual magic to create a weapon out of thin air. He had stood straight and defended against another blow from the troll's club before throwing it at the troll.

He had then done the impossible, he had picked her up, ran and jumped at a wall. Hermione thought the two of them would splatter against it but they didn't. She saw that Harry had his feet firmly planted on the wall and even his hair was falling towards it as if it was the floor. Gravitational direction is one thing that magic is supposed to be incapable of. It can make objects heavier or lighter but not be able to change gravity without a constantly re-applied charm or something to keep you anchored. He had ran up the wall and around the troll before throwing her through the doorway. She had fled for the great hall seeking help, surely the professors would help a student fighting a troll. The hall had been in uproar until the headmaster had quietened them and had her lead him and professors Mcgonagall, Snape and Quirrel to Harry.

The sight she saw when they reached him was shocking. He was leaning against the open doorway with one hand on that blindfold he always wore but what caught her attention was what was inside the room. The troll had been completely turned to stone! There was also two bloody blades on the floor, one a large two-handed blade and the other she thought she remembered from history books as being Roman. The halberd he had created was also embedded in the wall from where he'd thrown it.

Harry had then cut the headmaster off as he was asked about what had happened and she couldn't help but be concerned, shouldn't they have gotten Harry to a healer before interrogating him like that? And Harry was right! How had a troll gotten into the school? She found her trust in authority figures weakening even further. After leaving the staff to clear up the troll he had walked her down to the great hall where the feast was still ongoing. He had taken her with him as they sat at the Hufflepuff table, seeing Ronald Weasley eat had made her want to be far away from that! The fact that she managed to speak to some people her own age managed to really cheer her up. She spoke to girls that didn't think fashion and boys was everything that one should be concerned with, she had even started a tentative friendship with a few of them.

It was all thanks to that enigma, Harry Potter. She didn't know what made him so different but whatever it was she was glad of it. She supposed that she could consider him her best friend despite rarely seeing him outside lessons and meals, which she now took at the Hufflepuff table. According to Neville, Harry was working on a potions project with the go ahead of professor Snape. Harry had asked Neville about using certain plants as ingredients and that was when he had found out. She wondered to herself, just who was Harry Potter?

xxxxx

Harry let the following weeks slip by. He was enjoying his time at the school and he'd even managed to squeeze some amusement out of the headmaster's attempts to corner him and ask about the troll incident. There was the time he'd tried to speak to him in the corridor between classes and Harry had grinned when he used traced chains to keep him in place while he headed to his next lesson. There was the time he had stopped him on a staircase and Harry had used his new talent of walking on walls and ceilings to flip over the railing and walk underneath the staircase much to the shock of those witnessing the act. There was the time that the headmaster had tried to ask him in the great hall in front of the rest of the school, perhaps he thought the pressure of so many people there would make him spill but Harry had just reiterated his questions about how the troll got in and what he would tell the parents. That last one was a favourite as it had the added benefit of some of the other students asking that question too. Dumbledore didn't seem to know how to appease so many at once and he didn't seem to have a ready answer. Honestly, it was like the headmaster expected to be obeyed without thought. People weren't mindless drones however.

It was mid-November when Harry was having breakfast that a school owl landed in front of him. The owl seemed rather wary of him and it took him a bit of coaxing to get the letter from it. He analysed the letter, he still analysed all his food as well, and found nothing malicious there. Opening it, he found it was a letter from the gamekeeper, Hagrid asking if he wanted to come for some tea that Friday.

Harry narrowed his eyes, how did the man know he had Friday afternoons off? And why did he want to see him? Nevertheless he decided to go anyway. His reaction tables had been coming along nicely and he was a fair way ahead of schedule. He asked if anyone wanted to accompany him and Neville agreed along with Hermione.

Thus it was that the three of them found themselves approaching the cabin on the grounds where the large man lived. Harry knocked on the door and heard booming barks on the other side, though Primate Murder would have made them sound like little yips, and a voice calling out "Back Fang, back!"

The door was opened by Hagrid who looked out at the three of them and Harry decided to introduce them.

"Hello there. If you don't already know I am Harry Potter and you invited me to tea today. These are two of my friends, Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger. This one sat on my shoulder is Len. May we come in?" Hagrid blinked for a moment before saying.

"Oh aye, sure thing." He pulled back into his home and Harry stepped in with Neville and Hermione behind. A large boarhound, the apparent Fang, bounded towards them but pulled up short and sniffed at Harry before whimpering and backing down. Harry passed the dog and sat in a chair in Hagrid's hut.

He looked around. There was a large bed tucked up against one wall with a patchwork quilt on it fit for someone of Hagrid's size. There was a table and a number of chairs, perhaps Hagrid liked guests, that would seat around five aside from Hagrid himself. There was a fire over which hung a pot and a kettle was on the table next to that. There was a large wardrobe beside a set of drawers that probably held the man's clothing. Harry looked up to see several odds and ends hanging from the ceiling. All in all it was a rather pleasant little place.

Harry brought his attention back to the people in the room to see all of them had taken a seat at the table except Hagrid who was putting the kettle over the fire, the boarhound had found a comfortable spot with his head in Neville's lap, who was rubbing the dog behind the ears looking rather unperturbed. Hermione had sat on Harry's other side and was looking around curiously just like he had just done.

Hagrid came back and sat down leaving the kettle to boil. "I haven't seen you since you were a baby Harry. You used to fit in my hand. It was rather surprising when you came forward at the sorting. No one recognised you. I remember your parents when they where here. Your mother was a wonderful woman and your father always had a grin on his face." Harry tilted his head back and considered the man in front of him. He seemed sincere and honest. Harry wondered if he just wanted to see the child of two former students he remembered from over a decade ago.

"I can imagine," Harry replied. "I know at least that my appearance differs rather greatly from how those ridiculous stories portray me at least." Hagrid's eyes crinkled up in amusement.

"I'm sure. But who knows what you'll be able to do when you finish Hogwarts, I've even heard you're doing things now. You might be able to pull them off in a few years and then you'll show them all that the stories aren't for nothing!" Harry relaxed a little. This guy was too blunt to easily conceal things, you could read him like a book. He seemed genuinely happy to see Harry which the boy was grateful for. There was none of the 'fan awe' or fawning that some others had shown just genuine, honest cheer.

"Thanks. So, you saw me when I was little then? If I fit in your palm then you must have been good friends of my parents." Hagrid's eyes clouded a little, perhaps speaking of dead friends wasn't the best thing for a conversation.

"Aye, I did. I was also the one to drag you out of the house when it was burning down. The muggles had almost gotten there but I made sure you were safe. I took you to Dumbledore, great man Dumbledore, and he ensured you got a good home." Harry's eyes narrowed. He didn't like Dumbledore and here was more proof of his interference, how had he known when they were attacked? Why had he let Hagrid remove him from the ruins and then almost immediately secreted him away with the Dursleys?

"Those particular guardians were not the best I could have had, I haven't lived with them for several years now. I am quite happy with things now though so I don't really give the Dursleys much thought any more. Tell me," He decided to divert the conversation. "what do you actually do at Hogwarts?" This devolved into several conversations about the various magical creatures Hagrid came into contact with at the edge of the forest. It was easy to see that Hagrid loved the subject and mentioned that he'd love a pet dragon, Harry privately thought of the damage it would cause if Hagrid did manage to get a hold of dragon especially if it was one of the phantasmal ones of his world and not the relatively tame ones that could be found here.

They talked through the afternoon and Hermione managed to get in a few questions about the Hogwarts grounds. Apparently the grass and dirt itself was warded against muggles and enemies, a result of a number of bloody battles that had been fought before. Harry was intrigued by that, the thought that such little things had a cumulative effect which strengthened and reinforced the Hogwarts wards as a collective. It reminded him of a spider web where each ward was like where the web crossed, giving support to the other points of contact and being supported in turn. He wondered if he could set something like that up.

There was something off though. Harry had noticed the newspaper clipping in a totally-not-obvious-but-going -to-be-seen-anyway place and had reinforced his eyes to read it from a distance. Why Hagrid had kept a newspaper clipping from July had confused him. Apparently someone had tried to steal from Gringotts on July thirty-first. Harry wondered if the date had any meaning. He vaguely recalled seeing a large someone in the Leaky Cauldron before he had left that could easily have been Hagrid. The vault had been emptied the same day, perhaps Hagrid had done so and that was why he had kept it. He decided to speak up.

"Is what I'm reading true Hagrid? Did someone really try and steal from Gringotts?" Everyone stopped talking and Harry indicated the newspaper clipping.

"Oh yes, the did. Didn't get it though. It's strange isn't it? No one was found afterwards and Gringotts is the safest place for something, except perhaps Hogwarts." Hagrid seemed to take pride in that and Harry suspected that if Hagrid really had emptied the vault in question then whatever was on the forbidden third floor corridor was valuable enough to risk the ire of goblins. That was if the item or items in question were one and the same.

Everyone later left Hagrid's for supper. It had been quite an enjoyable trip even if Neville needed to clean the lap of his robes where Fang had dribbled all over him. Harry decided that tonight, before he left for the clock tower, was a good time to see what the deal with the third floor corridor was. He had a feeling it was a trap but for who was the question and how good of a trap it was.

xxxxx

That night Harry sneaked off towards the third floor corridor in almost complete silence. He utilised his ability to walk on the walls and ceiling to avoid being seen by the portraits and hurried up to the third floor corridor. When there he felt the same identification ward as the headmaster's office had. He almost laughed.

Weaving the opposing bounded field around himself he stepped forward and used the basic unlocking charm on the door to enter. He stepped in and shut the door behind himself. He looked around and came face to faces with a cerberus. The cerberus seemed to be regarding him warily. Harry stepped forward and began to rub the head in the middle. The other two heads seemed to want attention too and Harry obliged them. He began to sing softly and, to his surprise, the beast began to fall into slumber. He remembered the myth about the guardian of the underworld falling asleep with music but hadn't expected it to happen this easily. Harry soon moved the paw of the sleeping canine and, still singing, let himself hang from the trapdoor. Using his weight he shut the trapdoor and planted his feet on the ceiling of the room he was in.

Harry summoned five of his spirit orbs that hung around his head giving the image of a ghostly halo. He walked down the walls until, quite soon, he arrived at the bottom. He stopped and looked at the plant that was there. "Devil's snare, eh? That's a first year plant. It doesn't like light or fire. Let's see how it likes this." Harry paused and took a breath "_**My soul is a weapon**_" he intoned but unlike previously he added an extra line to it. "_**imbued with fire to smite my foe**_". As had happened in his duel with Malfoy, a number of orbs appeared hovering around him but these, instead of being a ghostly blue, were alight with orange and yellow flames. Harry kept walking forward as the plant recoiled from the heat and light around him. "That was pathetically easy." He said before dropping the number of orbs down to three as he continued down the corridor.

Harry heard a rustling noise as he advanced. He was wary of what lay ahead. He had already faced the cerberus and the devil's snare. The first of which would probably have been the harder of the two if he wasn't so knowledgeable of greek mythology. The dog would have probably come from Hagrid, he thought he remembered the man mentioning something about a three-headed dog earlier, and he had seen devil's snare in the greenhouses. By the looks of things all the defences would be things that could be easily acquired from the Hogwarts or nearby. He couldn't think of anything that made the noise that he was hearing, he would have said wings but he could hear a definite metallic chink every now and then.

Emerging into the next chamber Harry looked quickly around. There were several brooms over to the side and a door at the opposite end. It was what was in the middle of the room that was the strangest. He had to take another look because he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. Keys? Flying keys? That at least explained the metallic noises he'd heard. The keys sometimes knocked into each other in the air and the collisions made muted clinking noises. He looked at the keys then towards the door. He sighed It couldn't be so obvious, could it? He walked across the room, keeping an eye out if the keys decided to attack. With enough force behind them those keys could do a lot of damage to someone after all, especially if they went for the eyes and soft flesh.

He made it to the other side unmolested. He looked at the door and analysed the lock. He was amused. The lock would only take a specific key and would refuse all other magic applied to it. That said nothing for picking the locks though. He then analysed the door and found it to be reinforced against magical and mundane force. No one was blasting through this any time soon. Harry wondered how he would get past before he slapped himself in the forehead. "If this works I am going to be so not amused."

He analysed the hinges. The completely ordinary hinges. Harry sighed and analysed the door frame. The, also, completely ordinary door frame. He stopped for a moment to bang his head against the wall. "No. Common. Sense. At. All" He said each time his head made contact with it. He decided the easiest thing to do was use alteration on the door frame. He made it slippery and slid it out of the wall and propped it to one side before going through to meet the next 'challenge'.

The next room held a chessboard. Harry went to walk across it and see if that triggered it.

As soon as he got halfway the pieces came to attention and blocked his path. He took a step back and they put their weapons away. Raising an eyebrow, Harry stepped forwards again and then back several times. He was both amused and disappointed when the chess men kept bringing their weapons out and then putting them away again. He sighed and walked to the wall. As he had done before he stepped onto it, walked up it and then around and behind the chess pieces that didn't react this time. It seemed that 'challenge' had a trigger ward that activated if someone put pressure down past the trigger line. Harry, once again disappointed in what he had found passed through the door.

The other side showed what Harry considered to be the first real challenge thus far. There was a troll in front of him. The troll didn't seem to have noticed him slip in yet but it was only a matter of time. The room was dark and Harry kept to the shadows. It would be his vibrant colouring that gave him away he just knew it.

The troll currently seemed to be occupied. It was eating something. Something was about as accurate as Harry could tell. Whatever it was it was large and currently looked like some B movie prop. It was a hunk of meat about twice as wide as harry and half as tall as him again. It had gnaw marks on it and seemed to have putrefied somewhat. It had obviously been here a while and the only reason flies weren't circling it was because they couldn't get here too easily.

Harry decided his best way through here was pure speed. He reinforced himself to the limit and, unlike the last time he fought a troll, he didn't have any injuries to inhibit him. He took off in an instant. The troll looked up but harry was nothing more than a black and purple blur as he flew towards the next door which he wrenched open and dived through. That troll had been bigger than the last one and he didn't relish a chance to fight it.

Harry stepped a little further into the room he was in and whirled around when purple flames sprang to life behind him. He twirled again when black flames appeared at the far end. Harry eyed them warily until he noticed the potion bottles on the bench with the parchment next to them. This put him on edge far more than any challenge thus far. Everything so far had been obvious, you could tell what everything did. The dog bit, the plant strangled, the chess pieces played and the troll ripped you limb from limb but a potion could be insidious and discrete. He would be most careful here.

He read the parchment and almost sighed in resignation. This wasn't a challenge either. Anyone with a little time to spare could figure it out. He looked over the riddle and soon identified which potion was supposed to get him ahead. Warily he approached the smallest bottle and, for good measure, analysed the contents. He just shook his head when he found that the potion did, in fact, allow someone to pass through certain fires. He drank it, he wasn't worried as he had found the self-refilling charm on the vials, and walked straight through the black flames. The potion was rather unpleasant, it was like ice had flowed into his body and had crystallised him from within.

He kept walking through the darkness after he had passed through the flames. He thought back to all the 'challenges' he had faced. The first from Hagrid then Sprout, Flitwick, Mcgonagall, Quirrel and Snape if he went by subject teacher. He wondered who else or what subject the next one would be. Did the electives get a challenge too or was there something from Dumbledore.

He was a bit disappointed when he arrived in a large round room that seemed to hold nothing but a mirror. He stepped forwards, constantly checking his surroundings. As the only way out was the way he had come from then this must be the final challenge. He analysed the room and stood still, rooted to the spot. The room in general had come up blank, no more magic than the inherent magic that was everywhere in the castle except one thing. The mirror itself. That was a bonfire of prana. He took a few steps towards it and checked thoroughly for any wards he might trip. There were none. He took a few more shaky steps up towards this thing that made his own prana reserves seem insignificant.

Harry's gaze flickered to the top of the mirror where an inscription was engraved. It took him a moment to figure it out but the fact it was engraved on a mirror already gave him a clue "I show not your face but your heart's desire" Harry whispered. He suddenly needed to look, he needed to know what it was that he wanted most, he needed to know himself.

Taking a few steps more until he was directly in front of the mirror Harry took a breath before looking at the reflective surface.

He stopped and stared. He didn't know what he was seeing. The image seemed to flicker constantly. One moment he saw Stheno, Euryale, Zelretch, Waver and all his friends with him, the next he caught sight of himself soaked in blood laughing like a mad man, then he saw another peaceful image of everyone he cared about playing and laughing together before it flickered into an image he recognised, his mindscape. He couldn't make sense of it. What was the mirror trying to tell him? He could understand the images of his family and friends, they were very precious to him but what was with that image of him splattered with blood and laughing like that? He didn't want to kill did he? The final image of his mindscape made him pause. Did occlumency affect what he saw? He concentrated as hard as he could on how amusing it would be to catch Dumbledore in a pink tutu dancing ballet and took a look in the mirror.

Well... that was certainly interesting. It seemed the mirror took what was at the front of your mind or what you thought about a lot and expanded on it. He thought a lot about his friends and family so they had shown up in the mirror but he had had a growing irritation irritation with whoever set this obstacle course up and that had shown the second image, one where he had released said frustrations on the maker. It was a little macabre truth be told that it would take something like that and express it in such a way. Perhaps his occlumency had confused it?

Harry then wondered what the point of this gauntlet was and promptly stared into the mirror, willing it to divulge its secrets. He was rather surprised when something launched itself out and hit him. He managed to catch it before it hit the floor however and was promptly overwhelmed by the vast amounts of prana it was giving off. It seemed to be greedily devouring all the prana in the air around it at quite an accelerated rate. Hesitantly Harry used structural grasping on it and his eyes widened behind his blindfold.

This, this _thing _he was holding was ridiculous. He could already feel the headache coming on just from a quick analysis. The object in his hand was an immensely powerful alchemical catalyst. It was able to utilise prana to maximum efficiency with no waste! You could use a small amount of prana to enact a large effect with this thing! He decided that a headache was more than reasonable to look deeper into it.

He was initially amazed beyond belief. This rock, if left in blood would alter said blood allowing the drinker to purge their bodies of impurities and rejuvenate failing organs, you couldn't live forever but a good couple thousand years would be within possibility. Alchemy could already convert materials into gold but the efficiency aspect of this stone meant you wouldn't have to drain yourself dry creating tiny amounts, gold was a magical insulator after all and was incredibly difficult to work magic on or with.

It was when he started getting even deeper into the stone that Harry became sickened. The creation of the stone had taken a large number of willing sacrifices. About thirty people had ritualistically given their lives to create it and it had to be charged for forty years before it could be used. Harry looked at the thing in disgust. He could now feel the tendrils of mind manipulation that were emanating from it. It was like a compulsion. The people who had sacrificed themselves to create it had wanted their discovery to be used and that seemed to have imprinted itself on the stone. It wanted to be used and this was triggering selfish desires in his mind. He was sure that his occlumency helped to keep it at bay but he didn't know how long that would last. He thrust the _thing _back at the mirror which quickly absorbed the stone back inside itself.

Harry decided that the protections could use a little boost and started to craft bounded fields which he anchored to the mirror. A bounded field at its most basic was a means of defining two areas as in inside and an out. Effects could then be layered onto the bounded field that affects either the inside, outside or sets up a trigger for something crossing the boundary. Harry set up the effect of not allowing anything to pass through it without his permission. He also added a bounded field to the doorway on the way in to alert him to whenever someone entered the room and who it was. He added a number of other bounded fields around the room that would activate at his command. These bounded fields acted like magical mines. He set up several that he tied the water element into that would soak whoever was in them and then freeze them, he set up several with the fire element that would ignite, some wind that would use a concussive blast and some earth which would turn the ground to quicksand before solidifying again. It was the early hours of the morning when Harry went to his room to pick up Len before heading off to the clock tower. He would spend a few hours dozing with Len in his lap before he was awoken by Zelretch snapping a photo of them. He only gave the old vampire a half-hearted glare before coming round more fully in order to enjoy his weekend at home.

xxxxx

Harry and his friends had taken to visiting Hagrid once in a while now, the man certainly seemed to enjoy the company, and had found that Hagrid was quite the conversationalist when you ignored how common and rough his speech was. He could talk for hours about anything you care to name as long as it had sharp teeth, poison or some other form of possibly lethal appendages or abilities. Harry enjoyed the discussions and Hagrid even knew a fair bit about plants that grew in the forest that caught Neville's interest. Harry was rather curious what was going on in the castle however and decided to play sneaky.

"I'm sure I heard barking in the castle the other day. Like a couple of dogs were fighting or something. Did you hear about anything like that Hagrid?" He looked over to the man and cocked his head to one side.

"Ah, that's probably Fluffy. He's a pet of mine. Bought him as a pup from a greek chappie. Lent him to Dumbledore to guard the..." Harry wondered if letting Hagrid know something was a guarantee of it slipping out.

"Never mind that Hagrid. I heard more than one bark, how many are there in the castle?" He ignored the looks that Neville and Hermione gave him when he diverted the conversation. Hagrid seemed thankful at least.

"No, there's just one. Fluffy's a cerberus, a three-headed dog. He's a lovable bundle of fluff really but everyone thinks he's so fearsome." Yeah, no doubt. Thought Harry. Most people would think something that size is a little bit fearsome at the very least. Harry wondered what would happen if he introduced Hagrid to Primate Murder.

No, no! Bad thoughts. Stop contemplating such things. Harry chastised his own mind. Harry in an attempt to divert his current train of thought dragged Neville and Hagrid on an intense discussion about a possible wrestling match between devil's snare and the giant squid.

xxxxx

Harry was looking forward to Christmas. He was going home! There was also several things that he wanted to discuss that would be better done when they had time rather than over a weekend.

There was definitely a chill in the air as November slipped by. Hagrid could be seen defrosting some of the brooms that had been affected by the early onset of frost. There was also an incident were the Weasley twins had charmed snowballs not to melt and bounce off of Quirrel's turban, following him around the school.

Harry's energy was being directed into everything he did and, once again, he had managed to complete a large chunk og his reaction tables done. At this rate he will have finished by February. He had also spent a lot of time in the library reading anything he could get his hands on.

The most recent book that he'd read had been about a concept known as Consumption theory. It was a rather interesting theory in that you imagined some method of storing and removing prana to show how much of your reserves you are using and one that helps micromanage your available magic. To do this you had to imagine your magic as something that can be measured, the book suggested either a liquid or sand, and then imagine a container for it. You then had to mark the side of said 'container' with units and calculated spell usage by the number of units each spell used up.

Harry imagined his magic as a well and means of extracting magic for use was a bucket. It was quite an entertaining task as the more detailed your mental image was then the more accurately you could gauge your magic usage. He found it fun to imagine the bucket with all sorts of different engravings on it but he eventually settled on a simple repeated pattern of snake heads. The well in his mind had actually found a place in his mindscape when he went there. He hadn't expected that but guessed that this well represented his magic reserves. Harry wondered how much further his mindscape would develop like this. He had a lake to represent memories, a library for knowledge and now a well for magic. He decided that expanding mindscapes was something else that he would eventually research.

xxxxx

It was later in November, when Harry was sat by the edge of the forest practising warming charms, that something happened.

Harry was sat there and trying to get a warming charm to stick to the rock he was sat on but wasn't having much success, he thought that maybe he needed a different charm than the one used to keep people warm, perhaps there was a charm that could be used for a terrarium he mused.

Harry was interrupted by the sound of rustling undergrowth behind him and he whipped around.

There, stood at the edge of the trees, was the most beautiful horse Harry had ever seen. It was pure white and stood majestic, or it would if it wasn't for the gaping wound in its side. The horse turned to look at Harry and his breath caught in his throat. On the horses head was a single spiralling horn, this wasn't a horse but a unicorn!

Harry quickly got off of the rock he was on and hurried to the unicorn's side. It shied away from him slightly but he took no notice of it. He didn't know much healing magic as he healed ridiculously quickly himself but he couldn't leave the unicorn like this. He shot red sparks straight up in the air and hoped someone would notice them and come help.

Harry looked at the unicorn and tried to reduce its panic, a thunderous heart-beat wouldn't help it at all. He tried to talk to the unicorn and calm it so that it didn't injure itself any further. It seemed to work, the unicorn at least stopped shying away from him. Harry removed his shirt despite the cold and ripped it into strips which he tied together to cover the wound in the unicorn's side.

Harry looked up as he heard heavy footsteps coming. He saw Hagrid rushing towards him from the direction of his hut, there were some figures in the distance coming from the castle doors that he assumed were professors. Harry turned back to Hagrid while putting a quick warming charm on himself.

"Harry, can you get the bandages and rags from my hut? I didn't expect this when I saw the sparks." Harry simply summoned the objects while Hagrid took a look at the wounded unicorn. It must have been more comfortable with the large guy rather than Harry as it held completely still while Hagrid examined it.

The summoned objects soon collected near them and Harry handed them to the grounds keeper as he asked for them. It was at this point that the teachers from the castle had turned up. They were Mcgonagall, Sprout and Babbling. He guessed they'd been in the staffroom at the time as the window from there looked this way.

Sprout started summoning plants with healing properties from the greenhouses, Mcgonagall fired off a strange silver thing that he thought was a spectral lion of some sort before it charged off towards the castle while Babbling turned to Harry.

"What can you tell us about what happened here?" She demanded on a no nonsense voice. Harry wasn't surprised with how seriously they were taking this. A unicorn, in addition to being a creature of the light, was too fast and strong for most predators and those that did exist shouldn't be in a forest so near a school. Even werewolves at their peak were too slow to catch a unicorn and if they tried they tended to be gored by their horn.

"I often out here alone and today I was practising a warming charm on the boulder. I heard a rustling noise behind me and saw the injured unicorn. I sent up red sparks and hoped someone would notice while I ripped my shirt and tried to use that to staunch the bleeding." Harry answered immediately, this was no time to mess about. Babbling nodded and turned back to the unicorn which was now properly bound up.

Harry looked at them and asked "What's going to happen to the unicorn now?" He wondered how they were going to care for it while it recovered. They couldn't let it loose as it was, it was too heavily injured for that.

"This boy here will stay with me. He'll be in a paddock next to the hippogriffs so we know he'll be fine. Hippogriffs have pack mentality, if one is attacked then they'll gang up on the attacker given half a chance." Hagrid said. Harry was thankful as it seemed the unicorn was out of danger for now.

He saw Dumbledore leaving the castle, even without reinforcement he was easily identified, and sighed in resignation.

xxxxx

Another ridiculous interrogation later Harry was irritated. Dumbledore was getting no more out of him! The old coot had had his chance and utterly destroyed it, Mcgonagall was heading that way too. Deciding that he better get a new shirt, his hair had hidden his partial nakedness rather well, he headed to his room.

It was in the entrance hall that he met Hermione. She was once again getting vocally belittled by Weasel and Harry had had enough of him.

"Cruentis cicatrix" Harry hissed as he pointed his wand at the weasel who then started screaming as a wound opened up stretching from above his left eye across the bridge of his nose and ending on his right cheek. Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and started walking away from the damn annoyance. He dragged her all the way to the Hufflepuff common room declaring her is guest at the entrance so the painting would let her through.

He sat and huffed on one of the sofas in the room that hadn't been taken. Len climbed down from his shoulder and onto his lap where he began to fuss her. He calmed down a little at the familiar contact and looked sideways at the girl he had dragged here.

Hermione was looking around curiously, no doubt comparing it to the Gryffindor common room. Harry sighed before saying "Sorry about that. I just wanted to get us away from mount redhead before I exploded. So, how do the common rooms compare?"

Hermione jumped a little and blushed at being found comparing the rooms. "This one is larger but there are more tables with chairs and whatnot around them whereas all the chairs in Gryffindor face the fireplace." She looked a little uneasy. "What was that curse you used on Weasley? I didn't recognise it. I just saw his face start bleeding. It's not bad, is it?"

Harry took a breath. "It is a spell that is guaranteed to leave a scar. It is not very damaging or particularly painful. It will bleed quite badly at first but that will quickly clear up. It's meant as a warning. A 'stay away or else' kind of thing. Hopefully now he will leave you alone. He was the one responsible for you meeting the troll remember? I bet he hasn't apologised either." The last part was grumbled under his breath.

Hermione looked somewhat relieved that the spell Harry had used wasn't too bad and she blushed that he had done it for her and not everything the weasel had said about him. She stopped for a moment, had she started to pick up the habit of calling him Weasel herself? She thought about it for a moment and found she didn't care. This was a new thing for Hermione, she had so long been saddened by how everyone looked down on her but she could honestly say that she didn't care in this case. She looked at the boy in front of her and wondered how big an effect on her he'd actually had. She wondered how her parents would react to a different Hermione when she went home for Christmas break, would they notice a change too? She decided to think about that later and asked a question from the top of her mind to get off that track.

"I wonder if our dormitories are the same?" She blurted out. Harry's lip twitched in amusement, it was obvious she was trying to think of something else. Well, he would oblige her.

"Yes. You just said you have dormitories but we have two people to a room. As there is an odd number of people this year I have a room to myself. Come along, I think you'll like it." So saying Harry rose from his chair and led Hermione down the boy's corridor until he reached the room with his name engraved on the plate. Harry paused and focused on his bounded fields. He let Hermione in but didn't key her into the fields as he did so, this would essentially allow her in once but not again unless he did the same, Harry took his security seriously.

Hermione stepped into the room and then stopped. The room was about three metres square with a bed and wardrobe against one wall. It was the rest of the room that caught her attention. There were bookshelves filling the room, it was like a mini library. She also noted several circles and arrays of some kind drawn on the wall in masking tape covered in some kind of paint, there were also some more blue-tacked to the wall like posters would be. She had to ask.

"What's with the circles and stuff on the walls?" Harry chuckled before answering.

"They're similar to wards and ensure my privacy. I really don't like people rooting through my stuff without permission." He walked over to the shelves closer to the far wall. "These books here will probably be of more interest to you than the ones nearer you. These are books on magic that you are capable of while the others are things meant for me."

Hermione looked at the books nearest her and tried to decipher their titles. A lot of them were written in foreign languages but the majority were still in english. The titles mentioned things like 'bounded fields', 'Akasha', thaumaturgy' and one was even titled 'Dead Apostles: Their history and their nature'. She desperately wanted to read them to find out more about the enigma that was now looking at her with a smile as if he knew what she was thinking. She huffed and pouted which only served to make Harry's smile grow wider. She shook her head and went to have a look at the section he was stood at. She still made a mental note of the keywords she'd seen that she would research elsewhere as she settled down on Harry's bed with a book on basic transfiguration principles that she hadn't seen in the school library.

xxxxx

It was finally time to depart from Hogwarts and return home for the Christmas holidays. Harry was going to meet everyone at the station and introduce Neville and his Gran to everyone. He wondered who would turn up this time, he hadn't forgotten his mental threat about giving them all red eyes for a week if they hadn't grown up. He knew how to do it now as well and with the help of the house elves, who were fond of him due to the sharing of recipes, he was certain he could pull it off.

He spent the entire journey in a cabin with Hermione and Neville. They talked about everything that had happened so far this year. It was a smiling Harry who observed how much more confident Neville had become from the stuttering boy who had lost his toad. He was happy to see Hermione had made friends with the boy as well and that didn't include the people she now counted friends in the house of the loyal. He looked back on the past three and a bit months and concluded that a lot could happen in a short space of time.

For the holidays Hermione was going to get together with her aunts and uncles and cousins and have a big party between them all. Neville had mumbled something about visiting his parents that Harry only caught because he reinforced his ears and Hermione missed completely, he was also going to see how the greenhouses he tended had fared without him there to care for them like he constantly had before coming to Hogwarts. Harry mentioned that he would be getting together with all of his friends and family to celebrate Christmas and the new year. Although he didn't mention it, Harry was also going to talk about what Alistair had passed on to him from the headmaster's office about the marriage contract and the mumblings about betrothal rituals as well as everything the damned old goat had done in the last few months in regards to him.

The trolley lady interrupted their discussion and Harry made sure to buy an awful lot of everything she had. He explained that people back home would be amused by the different wizarding candies available and he was planning on hiding them amongst more traditional party foods. It was her visit that made Harry decide to surreptitiously put up a bounded field over the door.

He was glad he had for it wasn't long before the Ferret decided to try and harass them. He wasn't having much luck considering he couldn't even get in the compartment and any spell he tried had no effect on them. Harry wondered if the ferret would ever learn his lesson. The weasel hadn't done anything but glare since Harry had given him that rather distinctive scar and was surprised Dumbledore or someone hadn't reprimanded him for it. He supposed there was always after the holidays for that.

The conversation between the three first years soon morphed into a recounting of the troll event from Hermione's point of view and now that she had gotten over the event she seemed to concentrate even more on Harry's skills and tried to get him to tell her. She even attempted the puppy dog eyes and got Neville to join her in it. It didn't work as Harry just laughed it up and continued stroking Len who was in his lap and purring contentedly.

xxxxx

At the platform Harry looked around and soon spotted the vibrant purple hair of Stheno and Euryale. He rushed forwards and hugged the both of them who laughed as they hugged him back. He pulled out of the hug to see Zelretch there as well who bent down and ruffled Harry's hair while sporting a wide grin, Harry glared at him behind his blindfold for messing up his hair and started straightening it out. Harry turned to the three others who had come to pick him up and gave Waver a hug all of his own before turning to Altrouge and Arc.

The two of them grinned at him before rushing him and tackling him to the floor and hugging him there. They garnered even more looks at the enthusiastic display but none of them cared about that. The hug lasted quite a while before they all got up and brushed themselves down.

Standing next to them was Hermione and her parents who wanted to say farewell before they left to go home via muggle means. The goodbye they shared was good natured and filled with smiles. They said they would be early for the train ride back in January so it would be a good time to meet up and exchange holiday stories then. Harry agreed and soon Hermione and her family left.

That said they soon found Neville and his Gran, the latter of which seemed impressed at the results that Neville had gotten now that he wasn't using his father's wand. She said that she had learned her lesson and would keep Frank's wand in a place of honour and not inhibit Neville any longer by trying to force him into a mould he wasn't meant for. She did however say that her high expectations of him hadn't changed and that he would soon be learning about the economics and politics of house Longbottom. Neville looked a little horrified at this and Harry had to laugh bringing the attention of the two on harry and his group.

Dame Longbottom merely raised an eyebrow when she saw the eye colour of everyone bar Waver but dismissed it. This was better than harry had hoped considering how all the wizarding families so far had quickly shifted out of their way, it looked like pranking everyone with red eyes was a go when Hogwarts was back in session. They exchanged pleasantries and a few bits of conversation before Neville was side-along apparated home.

Harry looked at his friends and family and nodded before they too left for home via the kaleidoscope. It was only when they got back to their rooms that Stheno stopped harry, looked him in the eye and said, "Something is eating you. What is it?" Harry looked around at everyone and said.

"We need to talk."


	13. Winter Break

AN: I managed to write this chapter in a single day so it's a pretty quick upload. I was going through the reviews and found one asking if Harry could trace guns and bullets with his method and why didn't he. The answer is because of how complex everything is. There are so many different parts of a gun from the firing mechanism to the how the magazine reloads after each shot that it becomes rather impractical. Remember that Harry has to be there when each blade had been forged so Harry would have had to have been there while each separate mechanism and a bullet had been assembled. He would also have to project either a new bullet or a new magazine each time he reloaded and that is somewhat impractical. Swords are metal shapes with extra properties whereas bullets and guns have many moving parts and separate materials. I hope this satisfies that particular reviewer.

As before my forum can be found here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

For now enjoy the chapter

Beta'd by NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 13 – Winter Break

Dumbledore was pacing around his office. His mind was focused on one person, Harry Potter.

He had personally left the boy on the doorstep of Petunia and Vernon Dursley hoping they would take the child in. He knew they had an aversion to magic but he hadn't expected things to get so bad. In the wizarding world children were seen as the future, something to treasure and guide. There was essentially no child abuse in their world as, except for the Weasley family, magicals commonly had an average of two children maximum and as such the magical population remained relatively stable with a very slow incline that was being cut back again and again in the last three centuries. Voldemort had only been the most recent of a string of dark lords but he had been by far the worst. Grindlewald had wanted to enslave muggles and have muggle-borns be the backbone of the common work force. The dark lord before him had specifically targeted part-humans and their associates and the dark lord before that one had not killed anyone below the age of fifteen. Innocents had gotten caught up in the cross-hairs each time but only Voldemort had specifically targeted children.

Voldemort needed to be stopped. He knew that he had not been killed back in '81, he knew that Voldemort would return and only the prophesied child would be able to stop him. When young Harry had survived the attack on the Potters he had been overjoyed! He now knew who would be the one to beat back the darkness that had encroached on the magical world. His euphoria had lasted until he noticed the lingering dark magic around the baby's scar. He had scanned it and almost wept in despair. The boy had to die before Voldemort would even be able to, he now knew what the line in the prophecy meant at least, _'neither can live while the other survives'. _The boy would have to die while taking the dark lord out simultaneously, he would have to martyr himself to save the wizarding world.

The boy would grow up arrogant and spoiled if he had the praises that his feat would garner showered on him. Dumbledore needed to find a way for the boy to grow up away from it all without inciting the Wizengamot to intervene. Lily had a sister, Petunia if he recalled, and she was a muggle so she would not pamper the child. She didn't like even the mention of magic so Harry wouldn't learn of it until Hogwarts where he would be able to watch over and guide the boy to his destiny.

He had sealed the will of Lily and James so he could place Harry there and no one would be able to say anything otherwise. He had thought that Petunia would keep the boy downtrodden with her dislike of magic which would allow him to show how wondrous the world really was. This would engender in Harry a desire to preserve a world in which he belonged and be the first step in moulding the boy into the weapon he needed to take Voldemort down for good.

The first crimp in his plans had happened six years before he even knew of it. What had happened then? Neither Petunia nor Vernon remembered how the boy had disappeared and he had been quite thorough with his legilimency to ensure it. He had leaked Harry's appearance to the media so that everyone would know him when he returned and there would be the popularity that would be useful when his beacon of the light showed everyone how good Dumbledore and his ideas were, it would make guiding the world so much easier.

When the boy had turned up for the sorting Dumbledore hadn't known what to think of him. Minerva had told him a disturbing story of Harry being okay with killing people when circumstances permitted it! With such a dark outlook he had expected the boy to go straight to Slytherin where he could use Severus as an example of what harm the dark could do and drive him towards himself and the light. He had already attempted to plant Ronald Weasley, a member of a light family, as the boy's friend. If he had been successful then he not only had someone who could report on the boy to him but just being around the Weasleys would be a positive influence on him.

Unfortunately the Weasley boy had not been subtle enough and Harry had been too sharp. He had seen right through him in an instant but Dumbledore was confused on where Harry had learned about the wizarding world. He knew no wizarding family in the UK had taken him in, it would have been easy to find him if that was the case, yet it obviously wasn't a muggle family either. The boy had mentioned the term 'magus' and he'd tried to research it but had come up with nothing. He had tried to research the names the boy used for his family but he had been through the hall of records at the ministry and found no magicals with names like 'Stheno', 'Euryale' or 'Shweinorg'. The last had sounded German and he had tried to find foreign genealogies to further his search but those names still eluded him.

That Harry had been sorted into Hufflepuff had been a surprise to everyone but not as much as the Sorting Hat's pain filled screaming. He had later asked the hat about it and had received the reply "That boy is certainly one of a kind. He has great potential whatever decisions he makes and would make a formidable ally or a deadly foe. Don't try your games headmaster, they won't work." The hat refused to even tell him about the boy's general personality that it usually would with any other, it was most infuriating.

Dumbledore had kept an eye on Harry and found that the boy was cordial but distant with anyone he met. He seemed to have formed a friendship with the muggle-born Gryffindor Hermione Granger at least. He had managed a light surface scan of her mind once and had found a burning curiosity about the boy which he approved of, the more she learnt about him the more he could glean with his legilimency.

The first weekend of the year he had decided to try and make direct contact with Harry and had been soundly beaten without the boy doing anything. He had been more than surprised when he found out that Harry would be spending his weekends outside of the castle but as the heir of his house he was allowed to be. That rule had originally been there for those that needed to be trained to deal with politics and managing their wealth but it existed all the same and he could do nothing about it. When he had visited the Hufflepuff common room to see the boy and had found the door to his room was impenetrable by means of spell fire he had been most curious and concerned. He had returned several nights since under his strongest disillusionment charm and had tried to probe the magic there. It was difficult, there was some structure to it but it seemed to follow thoughts as much as it followed the spell structure it used as an anchor, he didn't understand it and couldn't begin to fathom how to destroy or penetrate it without excessive damage.

He decided that Harry really needed to form attachments to the light before he descended too deep into darkness. The marriage contract to the Weasley girl was to be a step towards uniting Harry with where he should be. The girl was already cute and would undoubtedly grow to be rather beautiful as she aged. That and her light-oriented family would make her a prime candidate for his future wife, it didn't hurt that her family was possibly the most loyal to his cause and therefore to the light.

While at Gringotts he had found out about the boy's 'new' family. He was in a right mess. How could the boy have slipped away? He still didn't know and he hated not knowing things. He had managed to find Harry the next morning and invited him to his office for a chat that day.

When Harry had knocked on his door without the identification ward he had set up notifying him he had been rather confused by it. That the boy had not been willing to tell him things made it all the more difficult and the tone he had used when conveying that had been rather unpleasant to hear. He had tried to separate the boy from wherever he was, they were obviously having a negative impact on him insofar as defeating Voldemort was concerned, and had told them they weren't his family. That the boy turned the question round on him and brought the matter of his adoption into it had left him chagrined. The goblins really wouldn't have done so without it being true and implying as such would insult goblin honour, something that was very unwise to do.

He had tried to use legilimency on Harry then but had been soundly repelled. This wasn't normal, an eleven year old didn't usually have such strong defences and the boy had obviously felt it as his next comment was about the legality of legilimency. That Minerva had defended him was gratifying but with the boy turning things against him once more it would probably have been better had she remained quiet. Dumbledore had then tried to turn the conversation back to Harry and brought up his lack of social interaction. He had hoped that he could get someone loyal to him alongside the boy but he soundly rebuffed that by pointing out he had made friends with two of the Gryffindors. Hermione Granger was a good start as long as Harry was influenced by her as Dumbledore could influence the girl but she seemed to be more under his influence than he under hers. Neville Longbottom was also a good choice except for the fact that the Dowager Longbottom was an incredibly sharp woman who made her own decisions and didn't listen to him.

When Dumbledore had asked about them being the only people he would associate with and Harry had replied with how everyone viewed him as a hero he had felt the boy's irritation expressed through what he could only call something akin to killing intent. Perhaps he had made a mistake in not regulating what stories of the boy were allowed to circulate. The boy soon left and Dumbledore found that he had gotten very little from the confrontation.

Dumbledore had observed the first flying lesson from his window and noticed how good Harry was. If he had been in another house then he could have waived the rule about no first years having brooms and put him on his house team. The problem was that Pomona always thought that rules should be followed the same for everyone so it was fair and her team already had a capable team, there were however two chasers that would be graduating this year so he thought the boy would probably try out next year.

When the duel with Draco Malfoy occurred Dumbledore had thought that a public duel would force the boy to submit to him if he offered instruction. He didn't think that he would win especially with the no wand condition. The magic that Harry had displayed was unlike anything he'd ever seen. That wasn't to mention the way that he had backhanded a dark curse away with his bare hand. He had since tried to research such magic but had come up blank once again. He had found nothing that could account for it. Wandless magic was generally imprecise and unwieldy as well as being difficult to control and use to begin with but what Harry had done was exactly that.

When he had went to Harry's room to confront him about it and what he had done to Draco Malfoy he had been surprised when he had opened the door. The room looked like a Ravenclaw's wet dream, it was filled with shelves and shelves of books. Dumbledore wondered when and how Harry had gotten so many of them to Hogwarts but decided there was a more immediate issue. He had went to step into the room and was surprised when he was forcibly ejected. He had thought the open door had meant the wards that Harry had obviously placed weren't in effect, obviously that was wrong. He had asked for the counter-curse for whatever that black spell he had hit Draco with. That could have been used to find the original curse that he had used and then he may be able to find more on this strange magic that Harry used.

The boy had refused, claiming there was no counter-curse. At least he now knew what the spell was, a Scandinavian sickness curse called a gandr shot. He had researched such things later but had found no mention of such a curse. When Harry had threatened to get the DMLE involved he thought the boy had been posturing. Obviously he had not.

Dumbledore was grateful about one thing that Amelia Bones had done at least. As he had been questioned first he'd had the chance to erase the signs of the charms he'd used on the owlery and layered a number of notice-me-not charms and the like on the third floor corridor too.

Dumbledore had heard about what the youngest Weasley male had said and he just knew the boy's ridicule the next day had been Harry's doing. He simply could not prove it and Mr. Weasley seemed to have remembered nothing except a girl that had blue hair and red eyes. On using legilimency Dumbledore had thought the girl had something to do with that cat that followed Mr. Potter everywhere. The cat however did not show a positive result when he had used an animagus detection spell on it and he didn't know of any other shape-shifters except werewolves and the cat was obviously not one of them.

The staff's reaction to Harry was also interesting. He had expected him to be a Gryffindor and have Minerva looking over him but instead he had been a Hufflepuff that had seemed to earn Severus' approval and that of Filius too. The boy excelled in class and was obviously intelligent earning him general approval even if Minerva's was rather grudgingly given.

Then there was the most recent set of occurrences to include. The troll had been something else. Dumbledore could find no means of turning something to stone that did not involve either transfiguration or alchemy. As no transmutation circle had been seen then it couldn't have been the latter and transfiguring a troll to stone would have completely drained a dozen adult wizards. There was also the matter of the bloody swords that had been found in the bathroom that shattered into nothing soon after Harry had led Miss. Granger away. He had not gotten a chance to analyse them at all.

The conversation he'd had with Harry afterwards had been rather aggressive but Dumbledore put that down to adrenaline still remaining from his tussle with the troll. He'd tried to speak to Harry several times afterwards but the boy was keeping tight-lipped about it and he didn't know how to get through to him.

Harry soon after made the acquaintance of Hagrid. They seemed to get along well which Dumbledore approved of but was a bit reserved about the fact they seemed to connect most when discussing things with more fangs than sense. Dumbledore had expected Harry to want to investigate the third floor after that conversation but his identification ward registered no one but Hagrid crossing it to feed Fluffy.

The next incident of note was the discovery of the injured unicorn which was even now being tended by Hagrid as it recovered. That Harry had been the one to find it was nothing major as he had taken to spending a fair amount of time at the border of the forest. What Dumbledore did pay notice of was that Harry instantly went to try and help it and ripped his shirt up for bandages without a second thought. That was good. It showed that Harry did have a sense of selflessness at least.

He had tried to talk to Harry after that incident as well but was soundly rebuffed. He just ignored the headmaster's questions and stared at him until he was dismissed. It was after this that Harry came across Mr. Weasley once again making derogatory comments against miss Granger and lashed out with a spell that caused his face to bleed.

When in the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey had managed to reduce the scar to no more than a thin white line that was not as prominent as it had been. It was the note that turned up that was most curious. It had said that Harry had thought Ronald had learned his lesson about consequences when he had almost gotten Hermione killed but that was obviously not the case so this would hopefully remind him how close he came to causing another's death.

Dumbledore didn't know how to address that problem. Yes, Ronald Weasley was in the wrong and had not been punished for his transgression but Mr. Potter's reaction had been rather extreme. He decided to wait until after the holidays to see if there was anything he should do. If Mr. Potter took it any further then he would place a heavy punishment on the boy but if Mr. Weasley continued then he would step in before even more permanent harm could be done. He supposed it was a good sign that Mr. Weasley had not said anything, even against the Slytherins, since and as such if things stayed that way then Dumbledore would let the matter drop. Almost causing another's death was a serious action whether intentional or not and he supposed he really should have been punished for that.

Dumbledore sighed. He wondered whether he should give Harry his father's cloak as a Christmas present as he had intended to or not. There was a mild compulsion on it to seek out the room he had temporarily transferred the mirror of Erised to. The strange thing was that the magic of the mirror seemed to have changed somewhat but it was such a magically potent object he hadn't been able to tell what was different. Dumbledore looked at the silvery cloak currently sat on his desk and resolved to give it to Harry when he returned and try and use that to get Harry to trust him a little.

He had considered a custody hearing using the injury that the boy had given Mr. Weasley as a basis but while something like that may work under muggle law it was unlikely to do so with the Wizengamot. They weren't likely to care about what had become a faint scar on the face of a Weasley child. The curse had looked bad but had done very little damage all told and it would come across as rather childish to have a full custody hearing over it not to mention he didn't want to but a black mark on Harry's record. If he was to be the beacon of the light then that would seriously harm his image. There was also the fact that if he did that then he was likely to drive Harry even further away from him then he already was and that would make gaining control even more difficult. No, he needed to be more subtle about it.

xxxxx

Stheno was also pacing. The room had a rather serious atmosphere that wasn't the usual for the quarters she shared with her sister and the one they called brother. Everyone was present, Zelretch, Aoko, Arcueid, Altrouge, Waver, Euryale, Harry and herself. Len was sat beside Harry who was leaning against Primate Murder with his eyes closed.

"So, at this school of yours so fat you have two students who have tried to physically attack you. One used a duel and another did nothing more than throw these 'dung bombs'. The former used a curse that could have killed you in front of the entire school. You also have a headmaster who is trying to marry you off to who he pleases and those are the least of your current concerns. You have also had to fight a troll of all things that somehow managed to get inside what is supposed to be the safest place in the UK and you have come across some sort of object that needed willing sacrifices to create. Said object can be used to make someone live an extended lifespan or turn things into gold. This stone is hidden behind some really crappy traps that an intelligent first or second year may get past. What the hell is going on there?" She had gotten rather frustrated by the end and was, quite rightly, concerned for him.

"I don't like this. He's alone there apart from Len and she isn't exactly the most combat capable person around. We can't go as we're too visible and I don't like the thought of him having to constantly watch his back like he's having to." This was from Arcueid.

"Isn't there something that can be done?" A rather worried Altrouge asked. Harry was her best friend and she really didn't want anything to happen to him, he was rather precious to her.

Zelretch was looking at the wall beside him and his face was scrunched up in concentration. Harry was watching him carefully. He recognised that look, it was the look he wore when he'd thought of something but didn't know whether to mention it or not. That meant either he didn't know all the details or there was a chance of it going wrong and despite still being the same man who had once picked random students and traumatised them while trying to teach them the kaleidoscope he had been grounded by staying in one place for a while now and having to look after Harry had mellowed him somewhat.

"What are you thinking about gramps? I recognise that look. Tell us and we'll decide its validity together." Zelretch looked around at everyone now looking at him from what Harry had said. He looked back at Harry before sighing and explaining his idea.

"To protect you at Hogwarts we need someone powerful enough to fight things like trolls and possibly stronger creatures if any turn up. We need someone who can be discrete enough not to be seen by the wrong person and we need someone who is going to stick with you all day. With your element and origin you have an effect on spirits and anything that can be counted as 'alive' in one sense or another. My idea was for you to summon a heroic spirit. Now, no one can summon a full spirit. I can't and as the kaleidoscope I have access to a damn sight more prana than any other." He looked at people and it was Aoko who continued.

"That is true but the Holy Grail War uses Heroic spirits, doesn't it? That means they can be summoned." Zelretch took a moment before answering.

"Yes but they don't summon pure heroic spirits. They can only be summoned by the world. They get around this by summoning them into 'vessels' which is how the seven servant classes are termed. Even without his element Harry has enough prana to sustain a single servant. I don't know how his element will affect it nor how his origin will affect it either but a servant that possesses an astral form would fulfil the requirement of being secret from the wizards and no one can deny how powerful they are."

Harry levelled him a look. "Is it even possible to summon a servant outside the grail war? Is that the solution you propose? Do you know enough to pull it off?"

Zelretch thought for a moment. "Yes, I think it is possible. I was there when the grail war was first thought of and I was part of the collaboration that brought it all together. We had to collectively pool at least the basics of all of our research so we could create the system. The problem is that there would have to be a fair amount of preparation beforehand. If I stick with what I know for certain about how it was set up then we may be able to pull this off in the summer months."

Aoko wanted Harry to be safe as soon as possible but this was a long term solution that she could get behind. "What would need to be prepared beforehand?" She asked

"The command seals that anchor the spirit to Harry and allow him to support them with his prana could be done before the winter holidays are over. With my knowledge we'd need to make seven sets as I don't know how to make them individually nor do I know how to pretty them up so it would be a series of seven circles around his forearm each one broken into three." He crinkles his brow further before adding.

"I would have to prepare the servant classes for summoning as well. We don't know which he will summon so I'll need to prepare all of them just in case. This means that Harry will have seven 'slots' available, one for each servant class. If he ever participates in a grail war and summons a servant through that then that will take up one of those 'slots' but he can only have one of each servant class so he could have an assassin and a caster but not, say, two archers." Everyone looked at each other to see what the others were thinking before Stheno gave her input.

"That sounds like it could work in the long run. A heroic spirit is nothing to sniff at and if Harry had one of them around then I think I can relax but how are we supposed to ensure his safety until it can be prepared? That's still six or so months until he gets that help. What can we do until then?" Everyone sighed before settling down to think this problem through.

No one seemed to think of anything. What had happened to him in the last three and a half months had been beyond what everyone had expected of a school. Eventually Harry simply said "You'll have to trust me not to get into trouble but if I do know that I'll be as careful as I can be. I think that what has happened so far is not the norm for a school, not even Hogwarts norm either."

Everyone eventually conceded the fact that there was nothing they could currently do and Harry asked Zelretch "Can you really recreate the servant system Gramps?" The old vampire chuckled.

"I can recreate portions of it. I was the one who created the connection with the throne of heroes using my domain, the kaleidoscope, and as such I needed to know about the command seals in order to weave them into it. The Makiri decided that they would modify the basic principle of it and made the seal symbolic of the one they summoned. That was a complicated bit of magecraft that I can't replicate. The Tohsaka provided the land and the means of calling the servants that was woven in with the kaleidoscope so it could actually reach as far as the throne of heroes. The Einzberns provided the alchemy and the grail vessel which we won't need."

Harry still had a question though "The grail war happens every sixty years though. Why wouldn't we need that long?"

"The grail needs sixty years in order gather the prana necessary to reach the throne seven times. As I will be assisting this one personally then that is unnecessary. You will only need to provide prana for your servant to maintain themselves. We will use nothing but yourself as a catalyst to ensure whoever you summon is compatible with you." Zelretch replied before Euryale cut in.

"Yeah, you don't want to summon someone you're always going to be arguing with" That got a few chuckles around the room and everyone relaxed. The tension that had built up over the protection issue now dissipated.

"Now we just have to deal with this marriage crap and we'll all be sorted." And just like that Euryale's words brought some of the tension back.

"Hmm, I recall something about another marriage contract getting submitted. RipSnout did drop a message in the box for me to read. I had not realised it was the headmaster who had tried it, I usually just ignore such things. Now that I think about it I also got a letter from the headmaster asking to meet me. I sent a letter back saying that if he couldn't give a reason then there was simply no time as I am a rather busy man. He didn't reply to that so I took no further notice." Stheno nodded at Zelretch before adding her bit.

"I too received a letter from him. He said he wanted to discuss Harry but when I replied asking what he'd done that needed a face to face meeting he didn't answer. As I see Harry every weekend I didn't feel there was anything wrong." Euryale then decided to ask a question of Harry.

"So, what's this betrothal ritual you mentioned and what does it need?" Harry took a breath before replying. When Alistair had told him about it he had researched all he could find on it.

"It's a rather simple ritual that requires no ritual circle or anything like that. It does have a rather long incantation and both involved must remain relatively still while it is happening. What it does is magically compels you to marry the one that you're bonded with. There is no way to break it and the only way to prevent it is to either already be married or engaged."

"What does it recognise as being engaged?" Euryale asked.

"Engagement in the magical world can only be entered into by two who are magical. A muggle wedding would not prevent the spell from taking place but, as I've read, the betrothal ritual only works on two people who possess magic. A magical engagement requires both parties to wear family rings that the old families have, the Potters are one of them. Breaking a betrothal requires a price of five hundred galleons to be paid by the one breaking it to the other's family. It is interesting to note that the betrothal ritual can only be conducted on people who have resided within the same locale for a year." Harry told her.

Arcueid looked at Harry with a bright smile. "The answers simple then. You get engaged and then you aren't susceptible to the ritual any longer."

Everyone looked from Arcueid to the rapidly reddening Harry. Altrouge had a smirk on her face and if anyone cared to look they would find a twinkle of amusement in Len's eyes.

Elsewhere in the multi-verse, Albus Dumbledore suddenly considered patenting his eye twinkle.

When Harry managed to halt his embarrassment he said "That's actually not a bad idea but who would the other person be? They would have to be female and possess magic for it to work. I can't exactly ask anyone you know. Even if it is just being a place holder it's still rather personal!"

"You're my best friend, Harry. I think you're a little young to be thinking about romance but I wouldn't mind holding that place if you want." Altrouge's smirk only seemed to grow as some pink returned to Harry's cheeks.

"I don't mind either!" The ditzy Arcueid added to it. Harry was right now focusing on they growing smile on Zelretch's face, if he knew anything about the Kaleidoscope then that rarely meant good news and more likely than not he would regret not stopping it when he had the chance. Unfortunately, Harry never got the chance as Len took that opportunity to put her hand on his. Harry looked at her only to see a smile on her face as she nodded at him.

"Well, seeing as those three have no problem with this there can be only one result,"Zelretch began "A competition!" Harry looked up, rather alarmed by that and he thought the grin on Zelretch's face was rather mischievous and was about to try and stop whatever plan the man had going before it got out of hand but before he managed it the three girls had all agreed. Harry could already tell this holiday was going to be quite hectic.

xxxxx

It was two weeks later and Christmas eve and there had already been two of those damnable contests. Harry had managed to get the condition of no physical violence as quick as he could, he didn't want to see the aftermath of Arcueid and Altrouge left behind if they did fight.

The first contest had been a cooking one. Harry thought that nothing could go wrong with that but by the root how wrong he was. It should be noted that the only one who had been anywhere near a kitchen was Len when she watched Harry bake the snacks she so loved. She knew the basics at least, having heard Harry explain what he was doing when he was baking and she was there. Altrouge and Arcueid however weren't disasters waiting to happen but disasters already in the making.

He had to give it to Altrouge, she at least read a cookbook beforehand and tried to duplicate what was in there. She had, however, tried to do something far beyond her abilities and ended up with something that, though edible, was probably not the stuffed lasagne she had wanted it to be.

Arcueid seemed to have created a new species that promptly tried to devour her, it had eyes and really sharp teeth!

Len's cookies were the obvious winners of that round followed by Altrouge's attempt. Harry wasn't even sure if he should include Arc's new pet into it but she earned last place regardless.

The second challenge had been a more physical one.

They played tennis.

They played tennis in outfits provided by Zelretch.

Harry simply glared at the unrepentant master of the second true magic. The shirts and shorts were tight and this was most obvious with Arcueid's which was showing significant stretching, so much so that Harry was uncertain whether she was actually wearing clothes or if she had simply been painted those colours.

Len had come last that time, not capable of keeping up with either of the other two. Harry was sure that the tennis ball was at least reinforced given the craters that it left whenever it hit the ground. That time the winner was Altrouge as she just managed to sneak a shot past her opponent. That meant that Altrouge was leading with one victory and one second place followed by Len with a victory and a loss and then Arcueid in last with a loss and a second place.

The third contest was apparently something that Waver had taken an interest in when he and Zelretch were looking at worlds that were farther ahead in their time lines. That Waver took an interest in it meant that it was probably a game of some description.

That was confirmed when Harry went to Zelretch's quarters and saw the television set up. There were also these things that looked like plastic guns. He picked one up and pointed it at the TV screen. A noticeable twitch appeared on Harry's face as an image of cross-hairs followed wherever the gun was pointed. The emblazoned name of 'House of the Dead 2' was just Zelretch trying to be funny, either that or he was aiming to get a rise from the two vampires. Harry sighed, this was going to be an interesting experience.

When the others arrived Harry could already see Altrouge's eye twitching. She was not amused and Harry made a mental note never to introduce her to some of the other franchises which featured zombies, vampires or any other kind of undead. The winner would be whoever managed to get further into the game and the second was the person who didn't but got further than the last place.

Len went first. She was rather good. She kept calm and used precision shots whilst reloading whenever she could. Arcueid went second and was a lot more enthusiastic when using her bullets which lead to her having to reload at inopportune times and getting taken out sooner than Len had.

Altrouge on the other hand seemed to focus all of her irritation with the game right back at the game itself. The observers all made a note to never let her anywhere near modern weaponry, she was damn scary! She was a lightning quick and accurate shot and with her vampiric reflexes on top of that she actually managed to complete the game in record time.

"Well, it looks like Altrouge has won this little competition." Zelretch stated "We can get the little ceremony done before you return to school." Altrouge seemed quite pleased at having won, Harry was also grateful that the issue had been resolved and made sure to bake plenty of snacks for everyone in thanks.

xxxxx

Christmas day had become something truly special to those who called Harry family and friend in recent years. They all came together in Harry and the gorgon sisters' quarters and spent the entire day together. They would eat breakfast that had been cooked by Harry and then open presents. They would then laugh and joke and play games until Harry and Stheno called everyone for lunch, those two really began to bond in the kitchen. After lunch they would relax and talk until the evening with perhaps a few board games in between until they had the evening meal and a mug of hot chocolate. They would spend the night of Christmas all having a pyjama party before falling asleep.

Breakfast that day was rather loud. Harry had cooked a traditional japanese breakfast this year, he usually did a full english, and everyone dug in with relish. The conversation was varied, Aoko mentioned a sealing designate she'd been hunting while Altrouge mentioned some apostles that had been trying to take out one of the ranked ancestors to claim the title and had gotten slaughtered in the attempt. Harry discussed his education with Stheno while Euryale and Zelretch got along far too well, especially when planning pranks. Waver and Arcueid seemed to have gotten onto conversing about how technology was evolving at a rapid rate and how would magi keep up? It was pleasant and Harry was soon levitating the dishes back into the kitchen to await cleaning, he was amused by the thought of the ministry trying to track his wand in an alternate dimension, and made sure all the presents were next to the tree before calling everyone over.

Harry had gotten some rather interesting gifts from everyone. He was also happy to see a gift each from Hermione and Neville. From Stheno he had a set of mundane education books, she didn't want him to miss out on part of his education even if he was learning magic. From Euryale he had gotten some potion supplies and a handbook, looking at it he found she'd compiled all the prank potions she could and had bought the ingredients necessary for them. From Waver he received a finely made black velvet cloak with his name stitched into it in purple. He got some manga from Arcueid, he'd been rather amused by some of them and had developed his own small collection. Altrouge had decided that a finely crafted dagger was an appropriate gift. Aoko had given him a carving set for runes, he had only ever drawn or sewn them before. It was Zelretch's gift that Harry was most curious about, it turned out to be a bird crafted out of precious metals and jewels. Zelretch said it should help him keep in contact with people from his birth world more easily. Harry was very thankful regardless, this was his first familiar that wasn't intelligent by its own right as Len was, apparently he had duplicated the same magic a post owl used. From Neville he received a number of different wizarding candies and he hoped that the boy would appreciate the book he'd sent on botany, he'd noticed Neville's fascination with herbology and hoped a book on muggle plants would go down well. From Hermione he received a book on foreign magic, was she giving him a hint? He had sent her a book on occlumency that he hoped she liked. He had also sent professor Snape a vial of gorgon venom, he wondered if the potions master would find a use for it in his potions.

Harry had also given gifts out and was looking for Zelretch's and Altrouge's reactions to the blood pops he'd bought. Arcueid had had fun trying to catch the chocolate frogs that had went everywhere and he'd gifted a set of history books to Stheno. Euryale had gotten some prank supplies to use around the clock tower from him. He had gotten a book on his birth world's magic theory for Aoko that she was now trying to make sense of. He had given a portrait of the fourth war's rider for Waver made from a memory he'd once shared with Harry, that one was received with a hug from Waver and a nostalgic smile.

xxxxx

New years eve was when Harry and Altrouge went to Gringotts to retrieve the engagement rings and fill out the legal documents. The goblins had been rather cautious around both of them, especially Altrouge, and Harry got the impression that they could tell they weren't normal by anyone's standards, Zelretch had mentioned something about that from when he had first visited the bank.

The rings that he and Altrouge now wore were simple silver with the Potter coat of arms etched into it. They'd had to recite basic vows saying that while they wore them they would respect each other other and similar sentiments. They weren't the binding 'till death do us part vows of weddings but they did ask for a certain level of commitment. Harry didn't mind, Altrouge was one of his closest friends and he respected her regardless.

The legal documentation on the other hand was a pain. They had to agree on the price if the contract was broken, they set that at the minimum five hundred galleons which was pocket change to the Potters, they had to have two witness signatures which were Aoko and RipSnout. They also had to sign with a blood quill which Harry decided was extremely unpleasant and his blood along with Altrouge's acted like a minor acid when written with as it started to dissolve the quill that they were using.

The final thing that would make their engagement complete was a kiss. Harry gulped nervously here as this was his first kiss and he could see that Altrouge had pink tinged cheeks too despite her words about him being too young for romance, Aoko's wolf whistle didn't help matters at all and they were stood there for a while before Aoko decided to grab the two of them and push them together. This resulted in the two toppling over and Harry twisted so he'd hit the floor first.

Altrouge crashed on top of him and their lips met with enough force to make him bleed. They froze with shock when they felt the rings on their fingers resize meaning that they were now officially engaged in the eyes of the magical world. They got up and both of them glared at Aoko who looked wholly unrepentant and instead had a grin on her face to rival the Cheshire cat. Harry just decided that he wanted to go home.

xxxxx

The rest of Harry's holiday was spent discussing the summoning he was going to perform when everything had been set up and who he was likely to summon. They had decided as one that any of the 'regular' heroes were out, Harry identified far too well with those that were considered monsters to really be able to get along with someone famous for killing monsters. Of those remaining, the 'anti-heroes', they thought that he might summon a lancer or a caster because of the way he fought. Lancers were fast and Harry did use speed far more than strength when he fought always trying to get in a hit at a joint or pressure point, he also used a halberd more than any other weapon. He was quite accomplished at a number of branches of magic so it was quite conceivable he'd summon a caster. He wasn't likely to summon a saber as they were often honourable knights and Harry would take whatever advantage he could in a fight nor was a rider likely as Harry didn't ride a mount and the other notable thing about riders were there powerful noble phantasms and apart from his eyes there wasn't exactly a major trump card of his. Archer was a bit of a mixed opinion, they were good at range and while Harry was pretty damn good with a bow it wasn't something he concentrated on. Archers had their thing about being independent which suited Harry as he was also independent. Berserker was really unlikely as Harry used rationality when he fought and preferred skill to raw power. The last class, assassin, was another where opinions were mixed. Harry did use blades coated in venom and he did use any tricks he could but even without his rather unique appearance he wasn't the sort to fade into the background unless he was actively trying to do so. There was also the possibility of the ritual producing a completely unexpected result that none of them had foreseen but they would just have to wait and see.

xxxxx

While all of this 'excitement' had been going on, Hermione had been having a rather more mundane holiday with her relatives. As she had told Neville and Harry on the train she had attended a family get-together with numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and more distantly related family members. She had been trying to fit in while thinking that she now had another barrier that separated them, magic. How could she relate to the rest of her family now? Her parents were fine as they were directly related and as such knew about it but to the rest of them all she really said was that she attended a private boarding school on Scotland and little else. She managed to pass potions off as chemistry, transfiguration as physics and herbology as botany but subjects like charms couldn't be equated that easily unlike something along the lines of astronomy which was just as applicable to both the mundane and magical worlds. She spoke of the houses and point system as well as the people she'd met while at school. She described the grounds keeper, Hagrid, and her two closest friends, Harry and Neville, to those who asked. All through the event she felt kind of lonely now that she had something she couldn't share despite how much she wanted to.

xxxxx

Hermione's Christmas day was as festive as any other and her parents had laughed heartily when they saw that both Harry and Neville had gotten her books for presents. They told her she was too young to be so predictable and her mother added that she should have to make men think about the gifts they bought. She said it with a laugh so Hermione was unsure how serious to take it.

Neville's gift had been a set of texts on commonly used and useful spells. These were the sort of thing that magicals would use every day but weren't taught in school. It included charms for resizing cloths and cooking food as well as washing dishes and other household magic. Harry had provided her a book on occlumency, a topic she knew nothing about. When she had read it she had been not happy. That there was magic that could be used to read people's minds wasn't something she liked, she was determined to at least be able to recognise a legilimency probe by the time January came around and her parents also thought it a good idea.

Her parents also asked about the friends she had made. They were quite happy about it even if her two best friends were boys. They remembered the odd boy from the train station that wore a blindfold. That boy had had such an effect on their daughter, she was more confident, she didn't take the written word as gospel any more, she was actually making friends. They had been wary of him when they'd gone to Diagon Alley with their daughter, he had seemed to be something else. He had seemed to be predatory, they'd noticed the fluidity of his movements and how he seemed to observe everyone despite the blindfold he wore. They had originally thought his hair was dyed but apparently, according to Hermione, that was its natural colour. They'd accepted this when they saw his family and the varied colours in hair and eye-colour they had sported.

The other boy they'd seen when they picked her up seemed far more normal. He was a little chubby but seemed like a rather average person. Apparently his best subject was herbology where he was essentially a prodigy. Both of them were orphans, one had dead parents and had become something of a celebrity with his supposed life written in countless books that had turned out to be false and the other lived with his Gran and they didn't know what had happened to his parents. There had apparently been a war a decade ago and it was thought that this was the reason there was so many orphans, another of Hermione's friends was raised by her aunt as well.

If Hermione found friends in this wizarding world then they would support her even if her friends were more than a little odd. It was very different to how things had been in primary school and they wondered if the kids could visit during the summer. They knew one of the boys lived in a manor house with his Gran and the other lived somewhere in London but there was magical ways to travel over vast distances. They had things like the floo network and portkeys to get about and something called the knight bus. It would probably be good for Hermione if she could have friends who she can visit and visit her. They resolved to ask those two about the possibility of visits during the summer.

xxxxx

At Hogwarts castle the Weasley children had Christmas away from home. Their mother and father had gone to Romania to visit their second oldest child, Charlie, and left their daughter Ginny with the Lovegoods. The twins had been punished for enchanting snowballs to bounce of professor Quirrel's turban but,overall, they didn't mind staying at the castle. Percy, third brother, was the eldest Weasley at Hogwarts and was a stickler for rules. He spent his time trying to keep all of the remaining Gryffindors in order, this wasn't made any easier by the twins pranks that went off so often that the faculty were considering locking the two of them in a room and bricking it up.

Ronald Weasley hadn't been having much fun at Hogwarts so far this year. His room mates consisted of Dean Thomas, a muggle-born, Seamus Finnigan, a half-blood Irish boy, and Neville Longbottom, a pureblood. He had nothing in common with Dean and could not be bothered trying to learn about the muggle world. Why look at muggle stuff when magic can do the same things so much easier is how he thought. He had tried getting along with Seamus and kind of did, Ron did like playing chess far too much for Seamus' tastes and Seamus did spend time with Dean as well but he did occasionally interact with him. Ron really wanted nothing to do with Neville as he became friends with Harry Potter, someone that Ron had really begun to dislike.

Harry Potter had everything. He had money, fame, he was good at magic and, if he was honest with himself, Ron was jealous of it all. He was a Weasley and all Weasleys in the last five generations had gone to Gryffindor house; Potter had been expected to go to Gryffindor too, how could he not? He was the boy-who-lived and everyone knows Gryffindor is the house for all the heroes, Dumbledore had come from Gryffindor as well! As a Weasley in Gryffindor he should have been in prime position to become the best friend of the boy-who-lived. As his friend he would obviously get a share in any of the glory going round which was bound to happen and glory meant money and influence. He could have been famous himself! The problem was that Harry Potter wasn't a Gryffindor, he wasn't what anyone had expected him to be, what he should have been.

When Dumbledore himself had told Ron that he should befriend Harry Potter on the train to Hogwarts and that he could 'help guide the boy towards the right path in the light' then he knew he couldn't go wrong, only someone dark could say no to being his friend and it was common knowledge that the Weasleys were all light. He'd been told to look out for someone with long hair with purple in it that wore a blindfold and had a black cat with him, ridiculously easy as that would stand out a lot. He'd pretended that he just wanted to sit in the compartment with him when he found Harry with Longbottom and a girl but he'd said no, he'd even insinuated that Dumbledore was some kind of stalker. That really wasn't right, the headmaster had obviously known that the boy-who-lived had been going dark and had trusted him, Ronald Bilius Weasley, to bring him back into the light. That wasn't going to work so it would be better if he let everyone know how dark Harry Potter was.

During the first term of school he'd tried to tell everyone how the boy-who-lived had turned dark but no one had believed him! It didn't help that he'd been sorted into Hufflepuff of all places, he probably bribed the hat or something to keep him out of Slytherin where all the dark people belonged. Potter had befriended the muggle-born brainy girl of his own house and that was not on. A Gryffindor shouldn't associate with the dark, that was for Slytherins and a few Ravenclaws that had managed to avoid the house. Gryffindor was supposed to lead the light and Hufflepuffs would always come down on the side of right. He'd seen the duel that Potter had had with that arse Malfoy and, while he was glad that the ponce had gotten a thrashing, he had seen Potter use magic that was obviously dark. There was no way that the magic balls that he'd conjured would be found in a normal book and, by process of elimination, that meant it had to be dark magic. Potter had probably used a dark ritual of some kind to be able to do it and that black ball he'd used at the end was even more obviously dark.

He'd tried even harder after that to get everyone to see that Potter had turned on all of them. He'd started to shout it in the corridors whenever they passed each other but that got no reaction out of him. He'd started trying to physically get rid off him and had thrown a dung bomb at him, that should show the dark bastard he wasn't welcome. That hadn't gone to plan as said dark bastard's hair had actually moved by itself to slap the dung bomb back at him! If that wasn't bad enough it had gone right in his open mouth. Fred and George hadn't helped things by giving him a score for it. He didn't know how he could get at Potter until he remembered how freaky the people at the platform were, the ones Potter had been with. The night after that, when he was alone, he'd been heading back to Gryffindor common room and had seen this blue haired girl in a black dress skipping along the corridor towards him. He'd been rather confused and waited while she got closer, he did nothing until she'd been right in front of him and had looked up. He had panicked at the sight of her red eyes and had barely noticed the strike to the back of his head knocking him out. He'd woken the next morning hanging by chains from the ceiling of the great hall wearing no clothes at all. He'd been bruised and sore and was feeling sick too. He didn't find out about the words on his back until Madam Pomfrey had him take a shower to clean them off. He'd been ill until the next morning and hadn't been able to sleep that night.

His most recent encounter with Potter had been more painful than anything. He'd never received any injuries when he'd been growing up, anything dangerous had been taken care of by magic and there'd never really been anything to hurt himself on to start with. When Potter had hit him with that curse while he'd been trying to get Granger away from the evil sod he'd thought he was going to die. There had been blood running down his face and into his eyes and it had been the first real pain he'd ever experienced. When he'd found himself in the hospital wing with it healed he'd thought magic would have healed him but he'd looked in a mirror and seen a barely visible, but still there, white line that went from above his left eye to his right cheek going right across his nose. After that he decided that it might be a better idea not to attack him directly unless he had more support or a professor was nearby to stop the dark boy from going even further and doing something like killing him.

His holidays had not been very productive but he didn't really care as long as he could keep eating all the great Hogwarts food and he could bug Seamus for a game of chess once in a while. He would much prefer it however if Harry Potter didn't come back when winter break was over.

xxxxx

Once the holidays had passed It was time for everyone to return to Hogwarts. Hermione was confident in her ability to detect legilimency probes even if she couldn't do anything to stop them, Harry had found that his fingerless gloves just managed to cover the engagement ring on his finger and the brand new marks along his arm were hidden by his vambraces, and Albus Dumbledore decided that he really needed to know more about Mr. Potter and do it subtly this time. Neither of the first two realised that there was anything else at Hogwarts that they should be wary of but Lord Voldemort would not be denied centre stage forever.


	14. Back to the Mirror and into the Forest

AN: This chapter was a bugger to get started but after the first three thousand words seemed to write itself up. In here you can see my first OC which was inspired by the game Dragon Age: Origins which I am playing right now, see if you can guess who I'm referring to even if it is rather easy. I have the story pretty much planned out up until mid third year but if anyone wants to give me ideas then they are more than welcome to do so. On the forum there has also been mention of a friend of a friend of one of the posters who is considering trying to draw my Harry and on that note I would love to see any fan art that any of you would like to show me. It makes me immensely curious how others interpret my descriptions and it would always be appreciated. As I have said multiple times before I have a forum that can be found here:

forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

And that about wraps it up so enjoy the chapter.

Beta'd by NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 14 – Back to the Mirror and into the Forest

Harry looked at what was on the floor in his room.

Since he had added the anti-house elf effect to his bounded fields guarding his room the elves had taken to handing his laundered clothes to him on a morning before he did his morning workout. He was probably the only person in the castle who saw as much of the elves as he did.

The package was set a ways inside the door, it had probably been thrown there from the doorway seeing as it was impossible for anyone to actually enter without his permission. Whatever it was, it had been wrapped in brown paper and tied with string. There was a note of some sort attached to it.

Harry cautiously made his way to it, preparing to use structural grasping on it, just in case it was a trap or something. There seemed to be nothing inherently malicious about it. Oh, there was a compulsion charm on it but that could be easily ignored. There was a tracking charm too but it was the object inside that really caught Harry's attention. Whenever he tried to analyse it he seemed to just slide off it like it wasn't even there.

Harry carefully opened the package and a silvery cloak spilled out onto the floor in front of him. It shimmered and it seemed difficult to even look at, his eyes seemed to slide off it if he didn't concentrate.

Harry tried to analyse it one more time, apart from the 'slippery' result of his structural grasping it was fine. He put it on. He didn't feel any different but it was when he looked down to see how it looked that he nearly had a heart attack.

His feet weren't there or, more accurately, they had become invisible. It was incredible and it certainly explained what he had felt from the cloak, it was an invisibility cloak. They were supposed to be really rare and as such Harry wondered who would be sending one to him. There was also the fact that invisibility cloaks were supposed to falter with age and this one was at least a thousand years old if not more.

Taking note of the note pinned to the packaging he analysed that as well. It came back as nothing but ink and parchment. Flipping it over Harry saw the flowing cursive script that said:

_Your Father left this in my possession before he died._

_Use it well._

No name was given but Harry had a hunch that it was Dumbledore. The only people who had known his parents that he was currently aware of consisted entirely of the faculty and he recognised the handwriting of most of them from when they marked his homework. This was too loopy and fancy to be any of them, Hagrid's handwriting was little better than a scribble and it seemed an odd thing to 'gift' someone anonymously. The compulsion and tracking charms were also in line with what Harry had come to expect of the man.

Harry rechecked the compulsion charm, it was to go to a certain location, and decided that it was better to be informed about what the old coot wanted with him than it was to go in blind. He would follow that compulsion this evening and see where it led.

xxxxx

After unpacking the things he had brought with him, mostly clothing, Harry headed down to Supper. His mind was still on that cloak and what possibilities that there could be when using it. There were charms that he could use on himself so people would ignore shifts in the wind and the indents of footsteps in carpet along with other minor things, there were silencing charms that he could use to make himself unheard as well as unseen, there were even spells to stop smells that he could use so that animals, such as Mrs. Norris the caretaker's cat, would not be able to scent him and that accounted for sight, sound and smell. Of the other two senses only touch remained and, if he managed that, he would be similar to an astralised servant. The problem was finding a spell, if one existed, to make him intangible. Harry doubted such a spell existed otherwise it could be used to combat the unforgivable curses and there was apparently no purely magical way to stop them.

As Harry reached the entrance hall he found Neville and Hermione waiting for him. Harry smiled, those two had sat and eaten with him every meal since the troll incident and Harry was most thankful for it, especially with how some people had not stopped rabbiting on about his 'super cool magic powers' and some had not stopped bothering him. Some had even asked for lessons, the more intense of these had out-right demanded it preaching that all magic should be shared and not hoarded away. The first lot were easily dealt with by remaining silent, they eventually stopped bugging him as something new caught their attention. The second lot had been harder to get rid of but if he sat on the end of a bench with Hermione next to him and Neville opposite then they had less space to get to him at meal times, he'd even dragged Cedric Diggory into it, and he just 'disappeared' outside class time and none of them had yet found where he hid. It was the third group that proved themselves to be the most annoying. Some of them had taken to hovering over him as he ate and stalking him in the corridors, Madam Pomfrey had become rather adept at spotting the signs of a gandr curse as a result. Those in that category scared him the most especially when a Ravenclaw sixth year promised him her first-born and he couldn't tell if she was serious or not.

Harry had not stopped analysing everything he ate and drank at all times just in case and, as a result, he could now tell far more about what he ate than was really necessary. His structural grasping in terms of food had progressed to the point that he knew how many calories it contained, what conditions the animal/plant had lived in, how old it had been when it had been slaughtered/harvested to a matter of minutes as well as being able to tell what proportion of it was protein, starch, sugars etc.

He didn't know whether this was a good thing or not. Nevertheless, no one had yet tried to drug him with either potions or muggle chemicals so Harry counted himself in the clear.

He was sat at the end of the table closest to the entrance hall with Neville on his right this time and Hermione opposite. As it was the first evening back most of his stalkers were catching up with their friends and Harry gained a little breathing room. It was Hermione who began conversation.

"Thanks for the books you two, they were really interesting." She turned to look fully at Harry "I've also been practising the exercises in the one you gave me and I think I can detect legilimency probes now but not do anything about them. Can you help me with that?"

Harry looked up from his steak and kidney pie. "I've never practised legilimency before so I don't know how good at it I'd be but I will help you regardless. I learned occlumency quite by accident, I'd been learning another mental discipline before I even knew about it and managed to form a mindscape in just under a month."

"You're learning occlumency?" Neville piped up. "I've never been very good at that. I thought it might help me remember things better but I never got anywhere with it."

Harry gave Neville a small smile "Your problem wasn't concentration or anything, it was nerves. The beginning stages of occlumency need you to be calm in order to collect yourself and focus. I don't think you'll have as much of a problem now as you did before, you're certainly more confident."

Neville returned Harry's smile with a grateful one of his own "Thanks. I've never had much confidence before, I was always the squib of the family. No one expected me to do well because of how clumsy I always was. I also didn't do much accidental magic and with how good my parents always were, especially my father, it kinda snowballed from there."

"Accidental magic appears in situations of great stress or other emotions. From what you've said the only thing you've really shown is nervousness. Your accidental magic may have even acted on that and made you clumsier than you really should have been. After I left my relatives, I rarely did accidental magic either. I was happy and there was nothing in particular that I wanted for." Harry confided in him before looking over towards Hermione. "Did you do much accidental magic?"

Hermione went a bit red as she replied "Summoning books off of high shelves mostly. I was pretty lonely and wanted friends and now that I think about it I seem to half-remember children's books reading themselves to me out loud, that was probably accidental magic too."

The three of them shared a small smile with each other before Hermione asked "And what about you Harry? Care to give us an example of your accidental magic?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Yeah, I have one. Where I grew up is full of researchers so, obviously, some of them didn't take to kindly to a kid running around the place. There was this one that was really bad and he kept saying really snide and unpleasant things until one day I got so mad that I just wanted him to embarrass himself somehow. Well, as soon as I thought that, his hair turned blue. This guy was a big-wig from Germany and a well established family so it was really bad for his image. The thing is," Harry lowered his voice "It stayed that way. Even when he tried to dye it, it showed through the dye and when he shaved it, it grew back. I still think that he has it now. The Einzberns no longer send him to the clock tower as their representative and, to be honest, I'm rather glad that I don't see him too."

The three of them dissolved into muffled laughter here which made some of the nearby students look over at them before returning to their food. Harry was glad that he had met these two. Hermione reminded him a little of Waver, they both believed in ability over family legacy and they both were constantly thinking of questions to ask. That the two of them had also been socially awkward was just the cherry on the cake.

Neville on the other hand was different. He had been cripplingly nervous but his new confidence had changed him greatly. His personality was completely unlike any other he'd encountered, the closest equivalent he knew of was Arcueid and her perpetual happiness but even that was completely different. Neville was a generally cheery person who could easily get along with anyone now that his nerves had eased. He also had something of a stubborn streak if it came to his friends and he would stand true and loyal with those he'd declared himself for. Harry was touched that, for Neville, this consisted of him and Hermione.

xxxxx

Later that evening, after the Hufflepuff common room had emptied, Harry placed the cloak around his shoulders and set off out into the castle at large. He kept part of his attention on the compulsion charm and where that was leading him as he observed and memorised the route he was taking. The compulsion took him towards the library and Harry began to wonder whether Dumbledore wanted him to read a particular book until the compulsion led him past the entrance and along another corridor.

It was about five minutes later in a seemingly deserted and unused part of the castle that the compulsion had him stop and open a door next to him. He paused momentarily in the doorway, just long enough to place a hand against the wall and use structural analysis on the room in general.

As expected, Dumbledore was in the corner under some sort of concealment spell. The rest of the room was no more magically potent than any other in the castle except for what was in the middle. The mirror from the third floor was stood alone in the centre of the room. Harry was cautious as he approached it and double checked that the bounded fields he'd anchored to it were still in effect.

They were, which meant that the stone was still sealed inside of it. He decided to play along with whatever the headmaster had planned and, after reinforcing his occlumency and throwing memories of his family to the front of his mind, he stepped up to the mirror.

Staring back at him were those who he cared for. Even though he knew it wasn't real he couldn't help but smile at them all. He didn't realise he'd been so transfixed by it until he felt Len weaving in and out of his legs to get his attention. Harry sighed and went over to sit beside where the headmaster had hidden before giving Len a fuss as she was in her cat form.

"You know Headmaster, if you wanted me to see this then there are other methods that don't involve compulsion charms." Only silence greeted Harry's comment.

"You might as well drop the spell, I know you're there after all." And so saying, Dumbledore ended the disillusionment charm that he thought had hidden him from Harry completely.

"Do you know what this mirror is my boy?" He asked. Harry snorted.

"The inscription at the top gives you at least a clue. Did you want to know what I see or was there some other purpose to this little charade?" Harry was not amused, he really didn't like this thing and his tone made that obvious.

"No Harry, I did not do this to know something that personal." Dumbledore sighed. "Once again I find myself wrong-footed by you, is there anything we can agree upon?"

"Perhaps if you talked to me rather than try to control me, you might find out." Harry replied.

"Perhaps you are right. I find that in my old age I have made more and more mistakes. Shall we have that conversation now?" Harry raised an eyebrow at this before he answered.

"Sure, let's talk. Can you tell me why you sealed my parents will?"

Dumbledore seemed to age beyond his years at that. "You had just defeated Voldemort and a number of his followers still roam free. Without the will being sealed anyone can contest your placement but with it sealed a blood relative has the highest claim. I did not want you taken in by a death eater family only to find your corpse as a result."

Harry thought about that for a moment and found it actually reasonable. "You've answered my first question, now you can ask yours."

"Can you tell me how it was you left your Aunt and Uncle's residence? They have no recollection of you making an attempt to run away." Harry decided to be careful how he phrased this next bit.

"That was the result of an accident of magic. I ended up very far away and when someone approached the goblins of Gringotts they legitimately became my new family. My question, why did you try and have Weasel befriend me on the train?" That wording would make him think it was a child's accidental magic rather than an accidental result from applied magic.

"The Weasleys are a good family. They are known for being loyal and true friends. I thought that a stable friendship would help you, it seems that Ronald Weasley was a bad choice." Dumbledore thought for a moment. "May I ask about the nature of the magic you used against Draco Malfoy and the troll?"

Harry considered it and decided to be truthful while not giving anything away. "I have an affinity for magic of a certain nature. That was the reason it manifested as those orbs. I reduced their power so they wouldn't kill but they would still hurt. I would have left it alone afterwards but Ferret didn't seem to realise when he was beaten. The gandr shot was to keep him down and end the duel. What I did against the troll was another of my skills, the difference being that what I used against the troll took years to be able to produce an appreciable result whereas what I did against Ferret was pretty instinctive. Next question, how do you define light and dark?"

Dumbledore was thrown for a moment by this particular question and took a moment to reply. "Dark magic is inherently harmful whereas that which is light is incapable of harm. Most magic has no alignment, at least, that is what I believe. Can I ask you the same question, how do you define light and dark?"

Harry's reply was instant "I don't." At Dumbledore's confused look he elaborated. "To me, magic is magic. Light and dark are merely labels that others have put on it, I do separate right from wrong however. Things I view as wrong include torture, the sacrifice of an innocent or unnecessary harm. My question again, why didn't you punish Ferret for his use of a deadly dark curse during our duel?"

"During your duel I was too startled by him actually using it, and even more so you deflecting it like you did, to really do anything. After the duel I thought that the sickness curse you used as well as the humiliation of being beaten like he was would suffice. If I had taken him to task for it he would have been embroiled in negative emotions that would likely fester and become even worse. Now, where does killing sit on your scale of right and wrong?" Dumbledore did have a point, Malfoy is the type to hate being disgraced and if the headmaster had done so then he might have lashed out. Harry's 'anonymous' tip off had sorted that mess out.

"Murder is wrong. I define murder as killing in cold blood and unprovoked. Killing is different. If someone throws a stunner at me then I will respond with non-lethal means to remove them from the conflict. If, however, someone throws something at me that is likely to result in death then I will remove them from the fight permanently. There are a few other things that warrant death in my opinion. This includes rape and child abuse, there is also the case of someone taking hostages. If the choices are to kill them or risk an innocent dying then I will kill them and my conscience will remain clean. Now, if you care to answer me, can you tell me why you tried to have me tied up in a marriage contract? I found out about the attempt you made with some relative of Weasel."

Dumbledore wasn't happy about Harry's morals but he would ask him in a moment. "I was trying to keep you from following the same path Voldemort did before you. He was isolated like you but also maintained a good relationship with students from all houses, similar to how you act cordially with others. I feared that you would walk the path of the dark arts like he has so I thought that some love in your life would counterbalance it. Was that so wrong? My question to you is why must you kill when they can be redeemed and prove themselves better than the depths to which they've fallen?"

"Was it wrong? It damn well was wrong. What would have happened if I hated the one you forced me to be with? It is all well and good to say that there would be love and she may even be fond of me, even if it is more likely she'd be enamoured with the image of the boy-who-lived. I am loved at home, have my family and a number of friends. It is true that I am by far the youngest but I'm still just as much their friend as they are mine. Now, for my final question, could you explain the media hype about the boy-who-lived to me?" Harry was rather irritated by the old man believing that a simple marriage contract would 'produce love' as it were.

Dumbledore looked a little ashamed now, he hadn't even thought about Harry rejecting Ginny Weasley's advances. "I can only offer my apologies Harry, I'm afraid I had not foreseen you denying her. With regards to the boy-who-lived media thing, it relates once more to your defeat of Voldemort. It had been at the end of a number of dark years full of oppression and fear, he was at the height of his power and was poised to completely engulf all of Britain in his rule when you happened. As with most families, the birth of a child is widely known and as such your existence was no secret. You must remember that, with the exception of the Weasley family, children are rare in magical families especially the long standing pureblood ones and as such they are precious. It is unusual for a family not to proclaim their child's birth in the wizarding world and as a result of that your image is widely known already. Your defeat of Voldemort was like a beacon to the world and you became a symbol of heroism. I was overheard speaking to professor Mcgonagall once about you in glasses and it soon became a part of your image. The stories spread and there is no one who is closely related enough to you to stop it. It will probably be less than a year by the time everyone knows about your differing appearance. Since you have asked your final question I think I will ask mine. My curiosity has been peaked by that blindfold you wear, can you explain it to me?"

Harry tilted his head to one side "It is for safety reasons." was all he said. Dumbledore blinked.

"Your own safety?" he asked curiously but Harry shook his head.

"Others." was his one word reply. "Good night headmaster, I think I will make my way to bed now but I will bypass the kitchens for a mug of hot chocolate, you can allow me that right?" Dumbledore absently nodded as Harry put his cloak about his shoulders and left the room. Both of them thinking two things. The first was that the conversation just then had probably been the most civilised they'd had and the second was the same in words if not the same in meaning,

_'perhaps he's not such a lost cause after all.'_

xxxxx

The following morning found Harry outside sparring with the mannequins that Flitwick had charmed for him. They were masterfully done and Harry was well pleased with them when he wasn't frustrated by how good they were. He could take them one on one when their difficulty setting was an eight but if he was facing two then they'd have to be on six. He'd tried facing three at once and found himself in immense difficulty on anything higher than a four.

He was sweaty and invigorated, he loved spending his mornings like this. Harry had noticed a small improvement in his hand to hand combat while sparring against the drones and counted them a success, Flitwick had asked to see his training sessions once and had been quite pleased with their performance as well, he'd said it was the most unusual way he'd ever seen animation charms used as most wizards would use nothing but spells in a fight.

Walking back to the castle with the shrunken mannequins in his pocket Harry thought back on last night's conversation with the headmaster. He wondered if Dumbledore would ever change his views or if they had been set in stone long ago. There were things he could agree on with the headmaster but even then he seemed to have left a lot out of his explanations, something that Harry had also done. He pondered this as he wandered into the great hall and sat down.

Grabbing a bowl of muesli absently and analysing it like always caused Harry to freeze, there was something added to his food. He checked again and tried to identify what it was before he let out a little chuckle, with his mind elsewhere he had forgotten what he'd gone to the kitchens for last night. He had told Dumbledore he'd gone for hot chocolate, and he had, but it was what else he'd done there that was the real purpose of the visit. Who knew that house elves actually liked the idea of pranks, Harry idly wondered if he should be sorry for what they could do here before dismissing it. He did after all appreciate a good prank himself, perhaps that was the result of growing up around Euryale and Zelretch.

He looked around as more people came down to breakfast and watched as some ate the food that had initially been served such as bacon, egg and toast while others chose the stuff that had appeared since Harry had developed his friendship with the house elves and they had shared recipes. Hogwarts now served a much wider variety of foods and several of the foreign students seemed rather pleased by it, Harry had caught sight of Slytherin Blaise Zabini taking a great shine to the pasta and other Italian dishes while Su Li of Ravenclaw ate the Japanese food that was now served. Weasel still gorged himself on traditional english food while Ferret ate predominantly French foods, Harry expected that was because the French tried to make everything look refined and elegant.

None of them knew what harry and the elves had done and none would until lunch time when it kicked in. It was a Monday and that meant magical theory was the first lesson of the day.

Magical theory was a first year only class that made students aware of the fundamental laws of magic that applied to all spells. In later years the different subjects would expand or add to that as it became necessary for the curriculum. They were discussing the nature of how spells interact with things they are not directly cast upon, an example was used with the levitation charm. This charm would apply the force equally across an object it was cast upon and this could be shown by levitating a bean bag. The bean bag would retain whatever shape it had been in before the levitation charm had been cast and only when it was released would it deform against a surface or other object.

The second period for Harry that day was transfiguration theory. Mcgonagall had stopped eyeing him like a hawk but she still did not seem totally comfortable with him. The lesson had been on the differences when transfiguration was used on more and more complex shapes. It was all well and good to transfigure a wooden block into a bird but it was a sign of mastery if the caster could manipulate the bird's size, colouring, behaviour and temperament all in the one spell. Harry remembered when they had learned the spell 'Avifors' that would change inanimate objects into birds and coupling that with the spell 'oppugno' which caused things to attack a target Harry thought it would make for a good strategy in a fight. You could blast things apart and transfigure the shrapnel into birds of all sorts of sizes while the caster used the distraction of the attacking birds to sneak some more spells into the duel. Harry was considering the idea of fewer larger birds attacking an enemy or more smaller birds, he decided that the latter was a better option as it presented less of a target and, if directed at the eyes or soft flesh, was more likely to get through and damage an enemy. Mcgonagall hadn't looked too happy when he'd asked whether or not the spell could incorporate turning the transfigured bird's talons to metal but she'd answered in the positive regardless.

xxxxx

At lunch that day Hermione and Neville found Harry cackling to himself at the end of the Hufflepuff table. This was most unusual and, truth be told, rather disturbing too. He was sat stroking that cat that never left his side and his fangs could be seen quite clearly. The two of them wondered whether their enigmatic friend had finally snapped and degenerated into insanity. Neville thought it better not to ask but Hermione's burning curiosity just had to be quenched.

"Harry, I think I speak for the both of us when I say you're creeping us out. This mad laughter isn't normal for you, is there something you'd like to tell us?" She spoke slowly and Harry's continued laughter did nothing to calm her growing unease.

Harry stopped laughing long enough to say "If you take a look at everyone when it turns half twelve you'll see. I said I would and I damn well made it happen, don't ever doubt I wouldn't." He then continued cackling.

Hermione glanced at her watch, it was twelve twenty-three so she had seven minutes to wait. Taking a look at Neville she told him as such before deciding that she should really use her time to eat before whatever Harry had planned reared its head.

Hermione soon found out what Harry had done as she was alerted by the shrieks that came from the Ravenclaw table, this noise was soon echoed around the hall as everyone noticed something.

They all had red eyes.

Hermione thought back to the first train ride they'd taken to Hogwarts and what harry would do. She concluded that she would never again dismiss whatever he said as 'not going to happen'. She also wondered if it would last a week and if by that Harry meant five days or seven. She turned to Harry, "Have your eyes also turned red?" As he was wearing a blindfold no one would have been able to tell.

"My eyes were already red, I did however include myself in the targets but I doubt if it really took hold. My eyes are rather... unique and they might not have been capable of changing to begin with." He replied before enjoying the chaos around him as the entire student body realised that they too had red eyes. Harry glanced up at the staff table to find most of them looking disapprovingly at the Weasley twins. Mcgonagall even called out. "Can the two of you end this prank already before I take more serious action against you than docking points?"

The two looked at each other before replying

"It wasn't us!" One said.

"Bloody good one though to get everyone." The other followed.

"We will most certainly -"

"Be looking to trump this -"

"one though and get even -"

"the pets with our next -"

"Big display." They finished together. How anyone could talk like those two, continually switching who spoke, was a mystery to Harry and one he wasn't going to even try and replicate. He was simply glad that he could tell them apart from a slight difference in their prana signature else he wouldn't be able to tell one from another like he could.

Looking back to the staff table Harry noticed that one teacher had not immediately looked at the Weasley twins but at him. The school rumours that flowed around the castle whispered that the potions master, Severus Snape, was a vampire. Harry thought that it was simply because of his black hair and pale complexion, the fact he stalked all over the place instead of walking and that he spent most of his time in the dungeons didn't help, but with red eyes and black robes he certainly looked like a caricature of a vampire. Harry looked directly at him and only the subtle tilting of the goblet in his hands alerted Harry to the fact that someone was aware of who had really done it, no doubt he would ask why when he went to continue his reaction tables that night.

xxxxx

After that afternoon's charms lesson Harry headed off towards the dungeons and the classroom adjacent to the one potions lessons were conducted in. he entered to find that his glass tumblers were already laid out and sparklingly clean. That was normal since the house elves had found out and insisted on clearing it up and setting it out, what was not normal was the potions master standing beside them and looking at Harry with a blank expression on his face. He uttered only one word.

"Why?" It was said with no inflection, no accusation and no other emotion.

"My family and friends include three people with red eyes, they are vampires, and the wizarding world views those with that eye colour as evil, this caused a fair amount of fuss at the station. The results will last at least a week and more likely two or three, they will resist colour change charms and I added a locking ingredient in the potion that will render counter-potions ineffective. I want this to show that simply having red eyes does not mean you are some dark despicable monster or evil wizard and that red is simply a colour like any other. That is why I did this." Harry stated it all in a monotone.

Snape looked at him and simply said "Very well." before heading out the door. It was only by reinforcing his hearing that he heard the quiet "ten points to Hufflepuff for equality and erasing prejudice." as the professor left the room. Harry shook his head, it seemed that the head of the snake pit had an image to maintain even in private. Harry doubted he would ever truly understand that man but he definitely respected him.

xxxxx

It was two weeks and four days later that everyone's eyes returned to their previous colour. It had taken a week until everyone had stopped jumping whenever they made eye contact with anyone else, the remaining week and a half had some students wondering if they could permanently change their eye colour to something else with several girls squealing over the possibilities of pink and glittery eyes. Harry was quite proud of how everything had gone and hoped they could transfer their anti-prejudiced views to their families when they returned home, he had already made note of several owls heading out of the castle that had an array of colours charmed into their feathers and eyes, Flitwick it seemed had taught all of his students in every year colour change charms and students had begun to turn up to lesson with a variety of different hair colours since. Harry was sure that the trend would fade with most people, colour changing charms weren't permanent after all and had to be recast daily, but he hoped the effect of turning everyone's eyes red would stick.

Harry was spending his Friday afternoon out by the lake and practising the colour changing charm himself, he was rather curious how detailed you could get with it. If someone was to approach him they would find an array of stones with various different patterns on them ranging from simple ones, such as a red one with a blue border, to more complex ones, he had one that had a rather accurate image of Len's human form on it in miniature.

He was startled out of it by the sound of hooves knocking against stones. Looking up Harry found the unicorn that had been spending time recovering with Hagrid, it should be about healed now as well. The unicorn seemed to be trying to make its way towards him across the pebbles and stones so Harry thought he'd make the job easier on it by going to the unicorn himself.

The unicorn stopped trying to come to him when he slid off the boulder and just watched him make his way over to it. Having read up on unicorns since the last incident, Harry knew they were incredibly intelligent, way more than some expected and were fully capable of understanding human speech. They apparently felt the emotions of those around them and it was this that let them decide who could approach and who couldn't, this is what propagated the idea that only maidens and children could touch them as they were 'innocent' of any misdeed. Harry thought that the unicorns initial unease with him was more telling than anything, he didn't even view himself as 'pure' or 'innocent', he was far too cynical for that.

As he got close to the unicorn he looked at it and asked "Well, what is it you wanted?" An outsider looking at this would probably have been rather incredulous at him being so blasé in the face of a unicorn but Harry thought he could see a hint of mirth in the eyes opposite him.

The unicorn turned towards the forest and looked over its shoulder at him as if to ask him 'Come along then, or are you chicken?'. Yes, Harry Potter had definitely found a unicorn that he liked in this one. He looked up at the sky, it was approaching late evening and he'd already had his supper. A regular student would have been worried about being shut out of the castle when the doors were shut but, if it came to it, Harry was perfectly capable of walking up the side of the wall and finding an open window to climb in and, failing that, he could always enter through the battlements or towers.

Harry sighed and merely said, "lead the way." He said and was sure that the creature in front of him snickered in amusement. He followed the unicorn into the forest and was soon engulfed in the darkness caused by tree cover, the unicorns white coat being the only thing that would allow a normal human to follow it. Harry wasn't a normal human and even without reinforcement his eyes could see better than others in this darkness, that didn't stop him from reinforcing them and improving it even more however.

Stepping carefully over the thick undergrowth Harry tried to think why the unicorn would be leading him into its home. It had been uneasy with him at first like most animals, they sensed the gorgon part of him and that screamed predator to them. The unicorn was obviously no longer afraid of him and that concerned him even more than fear would have, he didn't like it when something involving him didn't make sense.

Deciding to use this as an opportunity to check out the forest which he had refrained from entering so far, Harry analysed the trees around him. It was strange, it was almost like the trees were alive. No, not alive individually but part of a greater consciousness. Harry began to think that it was more than just the castle which had become sentient with the dip in the leylines and, considering how much longer the forest could have been here, Harry decided to be on his best behaviour. Nature spirits and those that had been part of an age before humans rarely looked fondly upon those that intruded on their domain, especially humans as they cut down many of their trees.

Harry caught sight of a spider out of the corner of his eye, a spider that was a fair bit larger than he should really expect and Harry analysed it as they went past. It was definitely an arachnid but its exoskeleton was a lot stronger than a regular spider and he could feel some kind of natural magic in it, he would have to research magical spiders when he returned to the castle to find out more on the subject.

Harry felt for the presence of the forest again to try and determine its mood. He reached into the trees around him and tried to follow all of their roots back to where the centre of the forest should be, he noted that the location seemed to be ahead and to the right, and tried to feel it without angering it. He reached what he assumed to be the consciousness of the forest and found anger, a lot of anger.

Harry froze for a moment before he realised that none of that anger was directed at him, he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding then. He tried to probe this forest spirits emotions and found that its anger was mostly directed at something, not a collective but a single being or creature. There was a sense of a rustling cloak and silver blood as well as a malignancy, nothing that Harry could really pin down so he tried to feel what else the spirit was concerned about.

The unicorns came out on top of that list, there was a feeling not dissimilar to a mother's arms closing around their child there and Harry thought that the forest was trying to protect its children. The second thing he found was a sense of anger that was tempered with frustration. This second feeling was being directed somewhere off to his left and he caught snippets of sight and sound. There was clicking and shuffling as well as deep shadows and many reflective eyes.

Harry jerked back at that. That was one big spider, he'd thought that the one he'd seen before was big but that one had only been the size of a plate. The one he'd found in the spirit's focus had to have been the size of a house, he didn't want to meet something like that any time soon and he doubted he could do anything to it even if he did.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted by a brush against his occlumency that made him shoot into alertness, it seemed the forest had finally noticed his intrusion both into its borders and into its mind. It was suspicious and, reluctantly, Harry let it into his mind, it would not do to anger something like that and he felt that it could do a lot if it decided to put its mind to it.

He felt the forest spirit enter his mindscape and idly wondered what form it had taken. He felt its surprise at his mindscape, he supposed that it might find the forest his mindscape consisted of unusual. Harry focused more and more of his attention inward as the spirit rooted through his mind like roots rapidly growing into soil seeking water. He waited and hoped that he would come out of the encounter intact. He took notice when the spirit found his more recent memories, those since he started Hogwarts. It wasn't until his encounter with the injured unicorn that the spirit's emotions underwent significant change. All through his memories the spirit had maintained its suspicious nature which had relented slightly as it went through more and more memories yet never abated completely. Now, however, he felt the genuine pleasure and gratitude the forest exuded as it saw him try and help what it viewed as one of its children.

The process of the spirit leaving his mind was rather off putting as it felt as if a plant was being pulled out one root at a time. Harry expected this to go on until it had completely let go but he was mistaken, when there was but one connection left the forest stopped. Harry plucked up the nerve to send a questioning thought at it and was rewarded with a voice like a gentle breeze whispering in his mind _'In thanks, I will aid you all I can'_. That wasn't something he had expected when he'd followed the unicorn into the forest and decided to leave the matter and be grateful that he had been accepted as he had.

Turning his attention outwards once again harry noted that he'd followed the unicorn deep into the forest, so deep that he thought the forest spirit itself was only a ten minute walk away. He looked around himself to see that there were many more unicorns than the single one he had followed thus far, they looked at him warily at first but seemed to soon accept him and Harry thought that they might have somehow found the connection he now shared with the forest no matter how unwilling it had been.

Harry looked around and found the anxiety he'd been feeling since the slight anxiety he'd felt since the he'd found the injured unicorn ease and he swore he heard the forest spirit give a gentle laugh in his mind. He looked to the unicorn that had led him here, lowered his head and said "Thank you for trusting me with your haven, I hope all of you will be safe here until the danger has passed."

Raising his head he found that the unicorns around him had also bowed their heads as he had and Harry found a smile creeping onto his face. He looked around and saw a golden unicorn with a scratch down its side that it had probably gotten from a thorn bush or something, the gold colour meant it was very young. Harry walked over and knelt by the foal which nuzzled into him while Harry drew his wand and pointed it at the cut. A muttered 'episkey' later and the cut had healed itself over. Harry looked over at the rest of the unicorns and walked amongst them healing whatever minor injuries they had which he could do something about.

xxxxx

Harry stood about a half hour later, after he had healed the last unicorn and smiled at the herd "I thank you for this but I must return to the castle if I wish to get any sleep tonight." Several of the unicorns nearby whinnied and Harry thought it sounded a little like laughter, either that or he was getting delusional.

With that he rose and left the clearing but it seemed his peace for the night wasn't yet come. There was a tugging sensation in his mind that Harry identified as the forest spirit and Harry decided to follow it and see what else he was wanted for, now that the spirit had a direct connection to his mind it was even more imperative that he not piss it off.

The tugging continued and Harry started to recognise the direction as where he had theorised the centre of the forest had been. He grew apprehensive, why did the forest want him right where it would be strongest? He nevertheless steeled himself and walked onwards towards whatever awaited him there.

It was a number of minutes later that Harry stepped into a clearing in the forest. The roots of the trees around him seemed to converge and rise from the ground forming some kind of crude archway in the centre of the clearing, the other side of the archway was a dark so impenetrable that Harry's eyes couldn't penetrate it even when reinforced to the limit.

Harry stopped just before the arch and waited for whatever was going to happen, he didn't have to wait long. A figure stepped out of the blackness of the archway before him. It was obviously female and looked rather human at first until one looked at it more completely. She was mostly naked but it seemed like ivy coiled around her body in the form of a leotard and Harry was hard pressed to tell you whether it was worn as raiment or if it grew directly out of her body, there was also what looked like roots that were wrapped around her bare arms and legs that reached down her pale green skin and along her hands. Her face was beautiful and serene but Harry thought it could also look wrathful if she so chose, something Harry didn't want to see. Her hair was the brown of fallen leaves and when she opened her eyes they had no iris or sclera, they were orbs of pure green like they had been filled with chlorophyll. She regarded Harry for a long moment in which he didn't dare move a muscle. When she spoke her voice sounded like several people speaking at once, the whisper of the breeze, the rustle of the undergrowth and the creaking of the trees being but three of them.

"It is strange. I have never shown myself like this to a human before nor have I even shown the centaurs that so arrogantly believe my domain to be theirs yet you seem so different. You don't feel like a human, you feel like something outside of perception like myself yet you stand before me as you do and observe so many of humanities virtues and vices. You are someone who follows the natural order of prey and predator, I do not understand you." She spoke to him as she stepped forward and began circling him, he felt like an insect that had been stuck under a microscope, scrutinised and insignificant. She continued speaking.

"You saved one of my children even when she shied away from you and you gave no thought to the second skin you wear as others do, you immediately removed it and tried to help all you could. I wish to thank you for what you have done, no others have ever helped my children so. I may wish to speak to you, the humans seem to be changing the world and perhaps you can convey an understanding of them to me. If you ever wish for assistance then call me through our new bond, I will do what I can for you." She stopped pacing and started walking back to the archway but called over her shoulder.

"Know that you are always welcome in my demesne, this forest that was once called Elestia. Humans use names and that should suffice for mine. I believe that we shall meet again Harry, I will await that day with anticipation whether it be a year or a century." That was all she said before stepping once more into the dark archway.

Harry let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Her presence was strange, he'd been around Altrouge and others before and knew what it was like to feel the presence of something far greater than yourself, Primate Murder had been a prime example, but never before had he frozen up like he had and he didn't know why. With Primate Murder he had even gone so far as to give the beast of Gaia a fuss and that was pure mental by anyone's standards yet he had been completely overwhelmed by a forest spirit. He shook himself before turning round and walking back the way he had come into the forest. The spirit, Elestia, as he would now call her guiding him whenever he drifted of course.

xxxxx

So deep into his thoughts was he that it took Elestia's warning for him to notice how quiet everything had gotten, not wanting to paint a target on himself Harry climbed the nearest tree and sank into the shadows. He sent a questioning thought to Elestia only to receive a biting reply _'It's the invader, the one who hunts my children. Beware you to do not feature on its menu'. _Harry cautiously walked along the branches, from tree to tree, in search of whatever it was that had the Elestia so angered. He utilised his control over gravity so that even the slimmest branch didn't break under his weight, this brought the problem of how much more effect the wind had on him and he was ever so grateful that there was only a slight breeze tonight.

Less than a minute later Harry saw what was out in the forest tonight. It looked like a cloak that was floating along mere inches off the ground but Harry could vaguely see the outline of a humanoid figure through the fabric, the figure was face down so he couldn't tell the gender but it was definitely of adult height. That eliminated the students as suspects and three of the faculty were out as Hagrid was too large, Flitwick too small and Filch was a squib so he couldn't be the one. That left a fair number of the faculty and Harry was not going to discount the idea that it could be someone from the nearby village, Hogsmeade.

Harry silently traced an english longbow into his left hand and a pointed bodkin arrow in his right. This arrow was good at piercing the target even if it didn't have the wide, sharpened head that other arrows sported. He quietly drew back on the bow and released it in one fluid motion as he leapt for an adjacent tree before tracing another arrow and firing it at speed.

He did this twice more and all four arrows were released in a matter of seconds. The figure, probably alerted by the sound of the arrow whistling through the air, had managed to dodge the first arrow completely but the second and third had left furrows along the arms of whoever it was and the final arrow had embedded itself in the earth just a few inches away from their foot. Harry tried to look the figure in the face but their seemed to be some sort of spell obscuring it from view. The figure started looking around for whoever or whatever had shot at it and Harry heard a distorted voice mentioning centaurs, that was good as it showed that they hadn't seen him and hadn't realised that he was the one doing this.

Harry considered letting a few more arrows loose at his target but thought that it might compromise him, he was also unnerved by the fact his opponent was clearly unaffected by the gorgon venom that his arrows were coated with. He turned to sprint towards the castle but decided to leave his opponent a last gift. He projected three more arrows, these ones had sharp, broad heads on them instead of the points that bodkin arrows had. He placed all three of them on the bow string at once and reinforced it as well as his arm putting as much force into it as he could before releasing them and fleeing towards the castle as fast as he could. Firing three arrows like that made it rather difficult to be accurate but, with his opponent on alert this time, it made dodging more difficult and he hoped that at least one of them had found a home in the flesh of the thing that had been hunting unicorns.

He pondered why his arrows didn't have an effect and made a query to Elestia, she soon replied with a mournful voice _'The blood of my children perpetuates life but leaves the drinker cursed. That blood would prevent all but the most concentrated poison from doing harm though I am thankful you tried all the same'_. Harry raced off towards the school while keeping to the treetops until he was far enough away from the thing that he felt confident enough to alight on the ground once more.

xxxxx

Harry thought that he would be able to leave the forest without running into any more of its denizens that night but the bow and arrow levelled his way destroyed that chance before it could prove true. On the other end of the bow was a centaur male with scraggly shoulder length brown hair and a thick winter coat on his horse body, he had mud brown eyes and a narrow, suspicious face to go with it. "What does a thing like you want in our forest?" he asked and Harry really didn't like the way he referred to him with such disgust but he decided that it was better to be nice instead of slaughtering the damn annoyance just so he could get to bed at a more reasonable time.

"A unicorn that was injured and then healed led me to where they gathered. I was on my way out of the forest once I knew they were safe." That was true even if it didn't tell him everything.

"Why would a unicorn want anything to do with you? Normally I would call you human but you are obviously not one of them that build your homes from the mud. What manner of beast are you?" Now that was really rude and Harry was getting closer to the end of his temper.

"My name is Harry Potter and while I do not view myself as human that is how most others choose to see me." He was not going to tell this overgrown pony he was a gorgon.

"Potter!?" He exclaimed. "You disappeared from the stars six years ago and upon your return Mars, Neptune and Pluto all made themselves known. Mars for war, Neptune the sign of magic yet never has it associated itself with the pathetic humans that scrabble about for wealth and knowledge so why would such an honour be bestowed on you? And then Pluto, the symbol of sadists and power is by far the worst. What manner of thing are you that would bring that one out into the sky? Answer me worm!"

Harry was really beginning to agree with Elestia, this pony-boy was really starting to grate on his nerves. "I have no reason to answer you when you hurl insults at me. Refine your manners before you enquire any more." With that Harry utilised both reinforcement and his gravity manipulation to leap far over the head of the centaur and towards the castle. When he reached the tree tops on his downwards fall he managed to catch a branch beneath his feet and he remained high in the trees until he reached the edge of the forest.

He made his way hastily across the grounds to find that the door was locked and an alohomora wasn't going to budge it. He looked up and around but couldn't see a window that was open and instead ran all the way up the wall whilst avoiding the windows so he wasn't seen. From the battlements he made his way to the owlery which was always open and sneaked down into the castle proper.

Keeping his feet planted on the ceiling Harry made his way towards the central staircase in the school, freezing solid and hiding in the shadows whenever a professor walked by on patrol, before he went straight down the side of the wall to the ground floor and the entrance hall.

After that it was only a matter of taking the stairs down to the basement and a short trip back to the common room. Seeing it empty Harry quickly made his way to his own room where he collapsed on his bed and tried to go to sleep. There was only one thing on his mind.

Whatever or whoever had been out in the forest would be getting no more unicorn blood from there and, as it cursed your life, they would be looking for alternate means of remaining alive. The only such method that Harry could think of that was nearby was the stone he had sealed inside the mirror of Erised. This was beginning to feel more and more like a set up as the year went on. He would be damned though if he let the unicorn's hunter get away without retribution, you could be sure of that.


	15. Ravenclaw and Eggs

AN: Here's another chapter that was written in less than a day, I am knackered.

I'll answer a few questions here. The summoning will happen during summer so probably in another two or three chapters methinks. Harry's relatives will turn up in the castle soon. I didn't redeem Dumbledore, If you'll notice he got far more information last chapter than his previous attempts did, he just changed tactics. I didn't even notice the Gawain reference so thanks for informing me Raidentensho, he will be making something out of shed basilisk skin. I'm leaning away from a Harry/Altrouge pairng, I think that she values her friendship to highly and wouldn't want to do anything to try and change it but I still might pair them up, I simply don't know yet and it's completely flexible. Tsukihime already happened years ago and Shiki ended up with Akiha, he isn't likely to make more than a reference in this fic. I hope this satisfies some of you.

Enjoy the story and thanks for staying with me

Beta'd by NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 15 – Ravenclaw and Eggs

Time passed and Harry kept in contact with Elestia, she proved to be quite good at debates, and Harry was hoping that the one he'd met in the forest, he'd dubbed them 'the shadow', would show themselves sooner rather than later. Elestia informed him that no more of the unicorns had been injured and they were safe, deep in the forest where her power was greatest. Harry visited them occasionally, making sure to stick to the tree tops and avoid both the centaurs and the acromantula colony. Harry thought the latter may make for good experience when he summoned a heroic spirit over the summer, with one of them with him he could gain some experience while avoiding the risks inherent if he went in alone.

There was also the time that the shadow had encountered the local centaur herd, it had been struck repeatedly with a volley of arrows before fleeing in the direction of the cast. This made Harry think that the staff were more likely to be involved than the residents of Hogsmeade, there had also been the fact that one of the centaurs had noticed him hidden in the shadows and leaves. He was surprised when the centaur didn't immediately inform the others but remained behind and spoke to Harry, the centaur's polite tone was also different to his last encounter.

What followed was Harry's first encounter with Firenze, a centaur that was much more accepting than his fellows. Whereas some like Bane, the one Harry had already encountered, despised humans and all those that trespassed in 'their' territory Firenze accepted that each and every one of the beings he encountered had their place. When Harry mentioned a spirit of the forest Firenze merely said that he should expect no less and that all old places where magic became concentrated could have the potential to develop like that. It was through Firenze that Harry understood what Bane had been saying when he'd been raving about the skies. The stars and planets were supposed to show the 'destiny' of all those that dwelt beneath them according to centaur beliefs, the fact that someone had completely disappeared from them was concerning and only when Harry had reappeared was he identified as the cause. The planets that had aligned with him were Mars, Neptune and Pluto. Mars was a sign of warriors and, as such, heralded war but whether it was a covert war of espionage and spies or an open war where blood would flow freely had yet to be determined. Neptune was the celestial body that represented magic but it had never been in alignment with a human before, the centaurs theorised that humans were too insignificant for Neptune to bother with and the fact it had 'chosen' Harry indicated something more. Pluto was the sign of sadists as well as mysterious and hidden forces, Harry thought that the second part was appropriate as his abilities weren't from this world after all.

Firenze explained that the centaurs had such little land to themselves already that they guarded what they had with extreme vigour, this lead them to lay claim to anywhere they could travel free so when the herd had grown too large for their previous home and had splintered into two with one staying and the other leaving they had claimed the first forest they had encountered, this one. Harry thought that sounded more like an invasion than anything else but kept quiet, he was thankful when Firenze accompanied him through the forest at night with Elestia alerting him whenever they got close to other centaurs or anything else to take notice of.

It was on one of these walks that Harry became acquainted with the thestral herd. Harry was quite wary of them at first, they looked rather like reptilian horses with bat wings and Harry hadn't read as much about magical creatures as he had in other subjects. When he found out that only those that had seen death could see them he became even more curious, checking his circuits he found that they hadn't been affected by their presence but the magic core he possessed seemed to act up around them leading him to wonder if a magus could see them even if they had seen death. He soon got used to the odd creatures and, after reading up on them, began to wonder if magic granted beings intelligence as a matter of course. The unicorns were obviously intelligent enough to understand human speech and Harry was certain the thestrals could too, the post owls used by wizards could find people regardless of where in the world they were except in the event of them being under a ward specifically made to redirect them. The owls Harry had seen in the great hall also showed a greater degree in personality than could be expected of a mundane animal.

Harry became more and more comfortable in the forest and it was unusual if he didn't spend at least two or three weekday evenings wandering its depths. There were so many creatures that resided in there that Harry was sure to choose Care of Magical Creatures when the electives came up so he could meet even more. There were the unicorns, thestrals and centaurs as had already been mentioned but there were also trolls at the far side of the forest where the mountains began along with some kind of wyverns that Harry hadn't managed to get close to yet as well as what he thought was a graphorn.

In the forest proper there were creatures such as clabberts which usually kept their distance from him, Doxys which Harry managed to scare off with fire whenever they tried to get close to him with their sharp teeth and there was one time he encountered a bundimun which Harry made sure to get rid of before it could do too much damage. While he had yet to explore the marsh to the east of the forest Harry had come to love it because of one particular creature he found within, a gytrash. A gytrash is a huge spectral hound that lives in forests in northern England but it isn't too strange to find one in Scotland. This particular one was about the size of a pony and seemed to have fun playing with Harry whenever he ventured into the forest. Harry truly preferred the forest to the castle where everyone seemed to be incapable of leaving him alone, he was so much happier there and it was a good way for him to relieve stress, the elves seemed happy that they had more work whenever Harry came back covered in dirt and whatnot from the forest.

xxxxx

It was April and Harry was growing more and more concerned. The shadow had not been able to get any more blood from the unicorns in the forest but when he'd asked Zelretch to check up on supplies of it in Knocturn Alley he found that someone had been buying up large supplies of it and having it dropped off at a relay point which turned out to be a transfer drop box. This prevented him tracking the person without tipping them off which frustrated Harry greatly. His main suspect was Quirrel, he was the only one to join the staff within the last five years except for Charity Burbage which was obvious with how the defence against the dark arts professor never lasted a year. A background check showed that he had previously been a muggle studies professor before going on a year-long sabbatical and leaving the post to professor Burbage. That sabbatical included time spent in a certain Albanian forest, a forest that had become renowned for its large population of 'dark' creatures. Before his trip and even up until he entered that forest Quirinus Quirrel was described as cheerful and enthusiastic man who had great motivation, after he left the forest he became a quivering wreck who was scared of his own shadow. Something in that forest had changed him but when he'd come out he had had no physical wounds, he had come up negative on any spiritual damage too and nothing had been leaching off of his magic so he had been given a reluctant clean bill of health. The garlic smell that followed him everywhere was also suspicious, as strong an odour as garlic was it was great for covering up other things.

The problem was that he had no proof. It was all well and good that he had narrowed it down to having one man as his primary suspect, he wasn't going to discount anyone just yet, but no one would take such an accusation seriously as even the other staff members didn't seem to take him seriously. That stutter of Quirrel's that made understanding him difficult also made a mockery of him, Harry thought it rather clever because, after all, who suspects the fool?

Harry was brought out of his contemplation when he found someone sat next to him. It was surprising as Harry was sat on the battlements and watching the sunset, as there was no astronomy lesson tonight he'd thought it a good place to sit and brood. The person sat next to him turned out to be Helena, the Ravenclaw house ghost that he'd conversed with on occasion. He hadn't spoken with her often but if they ever met without others around then they did exchange pleasantries. They'd stopped speaking in public as when they had done so once it seemed the Ravenclaws had been upset as she didn't speak to them and they found it rather insulting that she spoke with him as she did.

"Pleasant evening Helena, it is unusual for you to seek me out." Harry said. It was unusual for her to look for him, their conversations up until now had been when they'd chanced across one another.

"That is true, the evening sun is still as beautiful as ever it was and I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing it. I have a question for you though and that is why I have sought you out tonight." Harry would have to agree with the comment on the sunset, it was a deep red that was flecked with orange and yellow. The second part of it made him wonder what she could want from him because he couldn't think of anything a living person could give a ghost.

"Oh? That is unexpected but if you wish to ask something of me then I will listen. That doesn't mean I'll do it, I'm not stupid enough to promise something I don't know a thing about." That seemed to please her somehow which further confused Harry, he'd been expecting the opposite.

"Yes, you are so different from _him_ that such a thing isn't in your nature. You may avoid a question or answer ambiguously but you will never lie or take advantage of another." Harry was rather surprised by the venom in her voice as she mentioned whoever it was she had grievance with. It was common knowledge that ghosts remained behind whenever someone had significant regrets or other heavy emotions, ghosts could be described in one of two ways in this world. The first was when the person actively desired to stay behind either to fulfil some task they thought they needed to do or something else, the other way they could be described is as emotional baggage. The second form would be left behind because there was some great emotional attachment to something even if that thing was as intangible as a concept.

"May I ask what you wish to ask of me?" Harry asked, he was honestly curious. Helena shifted about for a moment before looking at him.

"It has been just shy of fifty years since I spoke to a student, ironically neither time has been to a member of Ravenclaw house, and the last time was to a boy named Tom Riddle. Tom was a Slytherin and embodied everything about his house, he was ambitious and cunning, when he first arrived everyone thought him a muggle-born but in his fifth year he was found to be a half-blood from the house of Gaunt. He was so happy that he had a magical heritage and it was then that he became even more assertive and manipulative though not many saw it for what it was, he was very subtle. I am afraid that I also fell to his manipulations, I was so easily flattered by him that it makes me want to scream now." Helena looked at Harry then, directly where his eyes would be if not for the blindfold.

"My name is Helena Ravenclaw. I am the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the founders of Hogwarts." She stopped there and looked at Harry as if expecting some sort of great reaction from him. If she truly had then she would be disappointed, Harry simply tilted his head to one side and looked at her for a moment. She had told him this and by the look of things it wasn't something she told anyone so harry decided to return some of that trust and after casting some privacy charms he'd learned replied.

"My name is Harry Potter, I am the biological child of James and Lily Potter nee Evans. That is not how I identify myself however, I am the blood adopted child of Kischur Zelretch Shweinorg, Waver Velvet and the two gorgon sisters Stheno and Euryale. You have confided in me so I'll do the same to you, I consider myself a gorgon more than I do a human. You don't have to worry about me nagging you about your parents as I'm sure others would, whatever you choose to tell me I'll listen to, no more and no less." Helena seemed stunned for a moment before she burst out laughing. Harry let her collect herself before asking her what was so funny.

"I expected that my revelation would shock you, I thought that you would ask me about my time alive. I never thought you would have a revelation of your own that would out-do mine. Thank you for telling me, your secret will be safe with me. After all, can you imagine how the wizarding world will react to their boy-who-lived declaring himself non-human, they would be in uproar." She calmed down even more here before looking at him with a small, if slightly sad, smile. "Thank you, what you've just done makes me even more sure that I can trust you with what I'm about to tell you." Harry waited while she composed herself still wondering what had prompted her to approach him and what she would ask of him.

"My mother had a diadem that she wore. It basically forced the mind of the wearer to formulate occlumency, this gave the impression that whoever wore it was incredibly knowledgeable and was how my mother maintained her reputation. She would only need to look at a page once and when she wore the diadem she would be capable of remembering it exactly. I stole it and fled the castle, I wanted to show everyone how much of a fraud my mother was. She wasn't very smart all told but because of the diadem she had access to every written thing she'd ever seen in an instant, she was trickier that Salazar in that way. When I fled with the diadem they sent my betrothed after me, you'd know him now as the bloody baron, he was an unpleasant man and I wanted nothing to do with him. He struck me down in anger when I wouldn't return with him, I'd already hidden my mother's headpiece by then, and when he returned to the castle he was shamed for it." Helena was looking at the setting sun and her voice had gotten softer as she related the tale to him.

"He took his own life rather than live with the shame of ending a wizarding lineage, it was a much bigger deal then than it is now, and the location of the diadem was lost. After my mother's death I allowed myself to return to Hogwarts, it was the only home I'd ever known but I'd be damned before I'd endure my mother harping on at me even from beyond the grave. I have remained here since and watched everyone that has passed through these halls, occasionally speaking to someone who stood out for one reason or another. You are the seventh person I have spoken to but you are by far the most unique, I have watched you even more intensely than I have others. It was difficult as you can even see me when others of the living can't so I couldn't exactly follow you when you disappeared into the forest or when there was nowhere to hide but I know you perhaps better than any other student I've observed and still you surprise me. When Tom Riddle approached me and spoke to me with such honeyed words I will admit that I was enraptured, a silver tongue does not do his charisma justice, and I told him where my mother's diadem could be found. He retrieved it and what he did with it I don't know but the next time I saw the relic it had been tainted in some way. That was the last time I spoke to Tom and he would not tell me what he had done. I would like to ask you to either purify that tainted thing or destroy it." The request surprised Harry and the dark tone she used whenever she spoke of this Tom Riddle made Harry curious about him.

"What became of this Tom? If he was a student from fifty years ago then he would be in his sixties now. It might be possible to find out the diadem's location from him." Helena's snort of disgust surprised him. He had expected her to say he was either dead due to the wizarding war a decade ago or some politician or something, the answer she did give shouldn't have shocked him with how it was building up.

"I kept an eye on him and the rumours that the staff spoke of, he was their golden boy and their image of what a student should strive to be so they too kept up with him, and found he had become a shop assistant in a place called Borgin and Burke's. That is where he stayed until his disappearance several years later, he disappeared right when a client passed away which I find more than a little suspicious, and he returned to the wizarding world soon after. He did not however return with the name Tom Riddle but another, Lord Voldemort. His so called 'friends' used that name before he had dropped the name Tom so the connection was there if anyone cared to look but the professors simply couldn't equate the charming and intelligent boy they'd once taught with what turned out to be a rising dark lord." Harry had to stop and laugh here and Helena shot him a look to which Harry replied.

"It's rather ironic. Voldemort was supposedly a supporter of blood purity and yet he was a half-blood himself. Add in to that image of a golden boy school kid who everyone loved it's like looking at two sides of a coin. One side has this nice boy who everyone likes whereas the flip side has the dark lord who no one will name." Helena had to grin at that, it was a rather interesting comparison with the conflicting images that seemed as different as night and day.

"That aside, I would be most appreciative of anything you can do in regards to that diadem." She said. Harry considered it for a moment. If Voldemort had truly defiled a relic of the founders then he would most assuredly do what he could about it but he had no means of tracking such an object down nor did he know what the diadem looked like exactly.

"If I ever come across it then I'll be sure to do what I can about it. I can promise no more than that and I won't lie, I will see what I can do to track it down but there is no guarantee I'll even find it much less be able to undo whatever it is he did to it. If you can give me a description of it then that would be much appreciated, that would at least allow me to recognise it if I ever do encounter it."

Helena held out her hands. "As you can imagine it is about this big, as expected for it to fit on someone's head. It is made of silver and has an oval sapphire set into it, it's also engraved with her most famous quote: wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure. Such one-off sayings were common from her but that is the one most widely known. There is a bust of my mother in the Ravenclaw common room that had her wearing her diadem. The entrance to the common room can be found on the fifth floor of the castle on the west side, at the top of a spiral staircase is a door that bears a bronze knocker in the shape of a raven who asks a riddle which, once answered correctly, will grant access to the tower."

Harry thought for a moment before looking out towards the west part of Hogwarts, there were three towers there but one of them had the banner of Ravenclaw house flying from its top. "That tower?" Harry asked and when Helena nodded Harry simply said "I'll take a look tonight." He wouldn't go by way of the door though, he'd go up the outside as he could see a window in the roof that was open and when he reinforced his eyes he could see the support for it was rusted and looked disused indicating it was unlikely to be closed any time soon.

The two of them remained sat there talking long after the sun had gone down until they decided that if they stayed in one place much longer they risked being found and Harry would be punished. They bid goodbye to each other as Helena went her own way while Harry headed to the basement and his room that awaited him.

xxxxx

It was even later that night that Harry Potter could be found wrapped in his invisibility cloak whilst walking up the side of Ravenclaw tower. The compulsion charm on the cloak had faded after it had fulfilled its purpose and Harry had overcharged the tracking charm causing it to dissipate. Seeing the cloak had reminded him of how he found it and he added making a bounded field to repel objects as well as people to his to do list.

Avoiding the windows as he went, Harry made speedy progress up to the top of the tower where he'd seen the open window. He stopped on top of the tiled roof and looked around at the view, he could see quite the distance in all directions even without reinforcing his eyes.

Returning his attention to the roof beneath his feet he stepped over to the open skylight. It was only open to about twice the width of his hand, and that wasn't enough. He pointed his wand at the rusted support that kept the window as it was and repeatedly cast the scourgify spell at it until he was left with a rust-free window latch.

He released the latch and gently opened the window all the way before reorienting his gravity and going through. With his feet firmly on the ceiling Harry took a look around the room he'd ended up in. There were wardrobes and drawers gathering dust around him and he guessed these were replacements if one ever got damaged beyond repair.

Looking around, Harry caught sight of a door which he crept towards as carefully as he could. This place might look like no one had been here for a while but he had no clue what was on the other side of the door. Opening the door slightly and looking around Harry found himself at the top of a set of steps. Gathering the cloak around his body he affixed himself to the ceiling and began to make his way down the stairs and arrived at a landing with a door to the side.

A noise ahead made him freeze.

A moment later, a girl walked up the stairs and into the door. Harry almost sighed but settled for rolling his eyes, he'd managed to end up on the girls dormitory side of Ravenclaw tower. He crept down the staircase from landing to landing until he reached the common room.

There was a fire crackling cheerily off to one side but it seemed insignificant in comparison to the rest of the room. All of the walls were lined with bookcases that reached the ceiling, Harry found this rather unfair as the Hufflepuffs didn't have their own library and Hermione had mentioned nothing like that for the Gryffindors, but it was what stood in the middle of the room that drew the eye.

There was a human sized statue of what he assumed was Rowena Ravenclaw stood there with her hands clasped in front of her. Harry wasn't there to admire that though and looked at what sat on her head, the lost diadem of Ravenclaw. He made note of its physical properties before turning and he was about to head up the stairs before he paused, there was some kind of ward on the bottom six steps. Crouching down Harry analysed the ward, it was aimed at males and would transfigure the stairs themselves in some way, Harry guessed they would become a slope, before setting off an alarm.

Reaching further and further with his structural grasping Harry found a major flaw in the ward, it only worked if a male stood on the bottom six steps. Harry almost laughed, anyone could get past that by using a broom to ignore the first few stairs and then walking up the rest of them.

Making sure the cloak was wrapped tightly around himself Harry planted his feet on the wall before making his way up it and back to the ceiling, he seemed to be spending more and more time recently on surfaces other than the floor, before heading back up the tower and the open window to the outside.

xxxxx

Once sequestered back in his room, Harry thought about the diadem that the statue had worn. Helena said it was silver with an oval sapphire set in it so it shouldn't be too difficult to recognise, the problem was finding it in the first damn place. Harry decided to think that over in the morning, he was too tired right now. Glancing over to his bed he saw that Len was already there, waiting for him. He was about to head on over before deciding to check out all the bounded fields on his room.

They were all there, the ones to stop people from entering, the one to stop the house elves too and the one to stop physical objects were the three that he concentrated on. Harry hoped that the anti-house elf bounded field would also stop things like phoenixes from simply appearing within but he had no way of testing that, he would simply have to pray that it was so and that he would never have to test that possibility.

Looking around himself he found that everything seemed undisturbed so he saw no harm in falling into bed with Len and letting sleep overtake him.

xxxxx

Elsewhere in the castle there were those who would not be getting a wink of sleep tonight. As Harry had rightly guessed, Quirinus Quirrel was the one after the stone but that was no longer his only goal. Dumbledore was not a good target as he needed to remain as undetected as possible to accomplish his tasks but with Snape constantly hounding his footsteps he was beginning to think that at least one person wasn't fooled.

Quirrel's sleeves were rolled back all the way to the shoulders and, as he had been doing for several months now, Quirrel was trying to close the open wounds which seemed to be healing at an incredibly slow rate.

"Damn them centaurs! What did they coat their arrows with to achieve this?" A high pitched voice emanated from somewhere near Quirrel. "What substance could react with Unicorn blood in this manner?"

That was what the problem was. Unicorn blood once drank would allow the consumer to live as long as he had received no fatal wounds, this did not mean that the blood wouldn't wreak its revenge. Someone who had drank unicorn's blood would find their days filled with pain as if acid flowed through their veins, their food would taste unpalatable and their sense of balance would be shot to hell. Those were some of the basic effects drinking it would result in but whatever those arrows that had been used that time he had been denied fresh unicorn's blood for the first time had done something else.

When he had been struck, he had thought of nothing more than punishing those that would dare to try and harm him. He had received some wounds but thought nothing of it, that was until the wounds refused to close. He had tried to analyse whatever was left within the wound and had found minuscule remnants of some kind of venom that had reacted to the unicorn's blood. Until all of this unknown venom left the wound then it wouldn't heal, this was fine except for the fact the venom had remained there for three months now and it looked like it would take at least another month to dissipate completely.

Since he could not reach fresh unicorn blood he had had to rely on bought blood. It lost its potency the longer it was kept and it was a damned hard thing to get a hold of in the first place but anything was available for the right price and he knew who to go to. It would get more and more difficult to acquire it as the year progressed however as suppliers ran short, this meant that he would have to step up his plans if he wished to retrieve the philosopher's stone.

As he was one of those who had been asked to guard it he could more easily find out what the others had done. He was slightly amused that the core subject teachers and the grounds keeper had been the ones to provide defences.

Going through the greenhouses had found only a single plant missing, devil's snare. That wouldn't be a problem but it was just one of the multiple defences around the stone. Minerva had been proud of her chess set and she was quite happy to tell everyone what she'd done, brainless Gryffindors. Flitwick thought he'd been clever but when he'd 'accidentally' bumped into him when he was fetching brooms from the outbuilding he'd whispered his challenge in a 'conspiratorial' whisper, another naïve one. He had provided a troll which he would have no problem bypassing but the other three challenges would prove to be a problem. He had gone through what new potions supplies had been ordered and was making a list of all the potions Snape would have brewed, a task made more difficult due to the number of medical potions he brewed for the hospital wing. Dumbledore's protection would obviously be something simply obscure and Hagrid had supplied that brute of a three-headed dog.

Dumbledore would never divulge what his defence would be and his list of potions that Snape could have made had been whittled down to about a dozen, the only one left was Hagrid and a means of bypassing that beast of his. Hagrid was known to drink down the Hog's Head fairly regularly so getting him drunk wouldn't be a problem, there was also the fact of where it was, no one would pay him too much scrutiny if he concealed himself. The problem was how to get onto a subject where he could lead into three-headed dogs without forcing the conversation. Ah, the oaf had always wanted a dragon, hadn't he? As if raising an acromantula wasn't enough, it was incredibly stupid of him. It did, however, give him an opening of which he could take advantage.

He should have done this several months ago but his attention had been caught by one Harry Potter.

The boy had been absolutely nothing like he'd expected him to be, he was no paragon of the light or Dumbledore's stooge. He was also incredibly independent and let none into his confidences unless he had no doubts about them, he'd had to abort his latest attempt at legilimency on the Granger girl, she'd noticed it immediately and her head had whipped round obviously trying to see who was trying to enter her mind. Foolish, she should have kept her head down while she looked from the corner of her eye to see who was looking at her but Gryffindors weren't known for their subtlety.

He had briefly entertained the thought of trying to recruit Potter for his master and the two had spent some time thinking about just such an action. The result had been a negative in the end, the prophecy said he would have the ability to end his master and he wanted no competition, especially if said competition was competent. The boy had to die, there was no two ways about it, the question was how.

When he had found that the boy spent his weekends outside the castle, he had thought to take a look in his room. He hadn't expected to find anything but was greatly surprised to see a miniature library in there. He'd tried to enter but had been rebuffed by some kind of ward that he couldn't make heads or tails of. He'd then tried to summon a book off of a shelf but his spell didn't seem capable of getting past the doorway without failing, the same was true of any spell he tried.

The duel between him and Lucius' brat had been entertaining but neither him nor his master recognised what Potter had done either by deflecting a curse barehanded, those ghostly blue orbs or that final black orb. He'd found out that the black one had been some kind of sickness curse that had no counter from eavesdropping on the mediwitch and headmaster but had found no reference himself.

He had found himself more and more intrigued by the contradiction that was Harry Potter. He was a Hufflepuff who seemed unconcerned with making friends as all the other brats did. He had power but didn't flaunt it, he didn't hide it either and wouldn't answer many questions about it. He spent the weekends out of the castle but Quirrel doubted it was for training of some description but he seemed to be using it to see his family. He was an intelligent student that applied himself in lesson and did extra-curricular reading in the library. Unlike other wizards, he was physically fit as well. He trained with some sort of mannequins before breakfast on a morning and his movements were fast and fluid which indicated a familiarity which indicated long practice.

There were other things about the boy that didn't fit. Potter had purple in his hair that couldn't possibly be natural yet apparently was, he wore a blindfold yet his vision was unimpeded, he moved with predatory grace which most seemed oblivious of and there had been one time when Potter was irritated at that Weasley boy verbally degrading him in the corridor only for everyone to feel a wave of killing intent wash over them, that had at least shut the redhead up.

Bringing his thoughts back to Hagrid and his three-headed monstrosity he lamented missing that dragon egg he had seen when he had first gone to Knocturn Alley to set up his drop off of unicorn blood, that would have been perfect. There had been a recently confiscated batch of Chimaera eggs if he'd heard the rumours right and one of those was just as likely to excite the large man, all he needed now was to plan this out right.

xxxxx

Harry had a feeling something was off, he had for several days now and it was only when he visited Hagrid that he found the source of that feeling.

Staring down at the egg wrapped in several blankets in disbelief, Harry had to make sure that what he was seeing was real. He walked over to the wall and hit his head off of it with quite some force, much to Hermione's disapproval and Neville's amusement, before coming back and looking down. Yes, the egg was still there.

"Hagrid, please tell me I'm hallucinating. I swear that I can see a chimaera's egg but obviously that can't be right, can it? They are a class-A non-tradeable item correct?" He asked, almost pleaded.

"No Harry, that's a chimaera egg. I am going to raise him and he will be a good friend for Fluffy, I think I'll call him Carl." Hagrid replied.

"Carl," Harry said faintly, "Carl the Chimaera. Right, now I know the wizarding world has lost it for good. I'm leaving and not coming back." He made to walk out the door but Neville twirled him round and pushed him into a chair.

"Calm down Harry. This is Hagrid we're talking about, if anyone can tame a chimaera it's him... or you, you do weird things too." he added the last bit after a moments thought.

Harry was not calm, his recent forays into the forest had given him a healthy respect for natures predators especially the magically enhanced ones and a chimaera was classed as a rank five dangerous creature, in other words, not good.

"You do realise you can't keep him Hagrid?" Harry asked, he knew the large guy would want to but it was illegal and dangerous.

"Don't worry about him Harry, I'll show everyone that he isn't as dangerous as they all think. He'll take a bit out of you like a baited dog but he's simply misunderstood." That wasn't very comforting.

"Misunderstood, yes I can see that but it is illegal Hagrid. If someone saw it here you would fall on the wrong side of the law with nothing to hang on to." Hagrid needed to see it from the other side but Harry could already recognise the signs of someone stubborn that was preparing to dig their heels in.

"I can raise him in my hut until he's ready for other people, there won't be a problem." He stated most empathetically.

Harry really needed to head him off before he entrenched himself. "That may be possible but it is far from what should be. It won't be just you that has to put up with it, Fang may not get along with him and what then? Are you going to stand by as it eats Fang?" Harry could see it in his eyes, he hadn't thought of that "There is also the legality of it, you'd get us in trouble

just because we know about it and then there's Dumbledore!" He noticed Hagrid's eyes open wide at that name, perhaps being Dumbledore's stooge would help him make Hagrid reconsider if he went at it from that angle. "Dumbledore would come under scrutiny as the headmaster and the board of governors would step in and Malfoy senior is a member, do you want a Malfoy with power of Dumbledore just because of your project?" It seemed that the risk of implicating the headmaster like that had worked as Hagrid now looked a lot less sure of himself.

"Dumbledore would really go through that just because I want to keep him?" Harry nodded at Hagrid's question. Honestly he didn't know as the wizarding world had shown it already didn't make sense but if it got this problem solved then he would play it that way.

"As the headmaster he is responsible for everything that goes on here whether he is the perpetrator or not." Hagrid was really wavering right now, just a little more and he'd be convinced.

"Considering that Chimeras are class five dangerous creatures and they're eggs are class-A non-tradeable is just asking for trouble." Hagrid seemed to capitulate at that.

"I can't just get rid of him! I've got to at least she that he hatches and that he's okay and everything." Well, it was better than nothing.

"Fine, do that. How long until he hatches? I need to know how long I've got to find him a proper home." If he waited until it hatched then it would give him some time, the beast would also be rather small at the time to and that meant it would be easier to transport.

"Ah, I've done some reading and from when they're first warmed to hatching is about a week." That gave him until the middle of the next week, at least he had the weekend to ask people at home.

xxxxx

"What?" Stheno just gave Harry a flat look. "Are you telling us that the grounds keeper has got a hold of chimaera eggs, eggs that are high-class illegal materials, and is trying to raise said chimaera in a small wooden hut? Oh, and the chimaera is named Carl?"

Harry could do nothing but close his eyes and sink into the sofa. That summed it up and he found it just as ridiculous as she did. "What can I do about it? I can't raise it in the clock tower and there's nowhere for it to go in that world. Dragons at least have preserves but chimeras don't. I can't release it into the wild without Hagrid throwing a hissy-fit over it being alone without its 'momma'. What can I do?" He looked across at Altrouge "You managed to tame Primate Murder, do you think you could do the same with a chimaera?"

Altrouge shook her head "Primate Murder needed a lot of one-on-one at the beginning and I don't know how she'd handle having someone else around, especially with the amount of attention it would require."

"I could do it!" a beaming Altrouge said. Harry raised an eyebrow and asked how she could do it. "Well Altrouge has Primy and now Len stays with you so I could have Carla as my own mascot!" Harry face-palmed and from the sound of it he wasn't alone.

"Seriously Arcueid?" He asked, he didn't think she was seriously that ditzy.

"Well, why not? I have time and I'm strong and resilient enough so it isn't a threat to me. I think I can do it." Harry looked around at everyone else. Ignoring the amused twinkle in Zelretch's eye, everyone seemed resigned to it.

"Fine, when the damn thing hatches I'll bring it here for you but better be responsible about this." Harry prayed that he wasn't making a mistake in allowing Arcueid of all people to raise a chimaera. Normally he'd be a bit flippant and say what could go wrong but he decided there were too many things already that could potentially go wrong for him to try and tempt fate any further.

xxxxx

The weekend and the following days of school dragged on at a snail's pace for Harry, he wanted this over and done with already. He'd completely ignored both Ferret and Weasel when they'd tried to get a rise out of him, he hadn't even flared his killing intent as he usually did to get them off his back because of how preoccupied he was.

This didn't go unnoticed by either of his antagonists and Weasel was the first to try and push his luck. It was lunchtime on Monday when it happened. Harry had been reading everything he could get his hands on about chimeras and tried to put together some kind of guide for Arcueid as to how to raise it, he was pretty sure reading old myths and legends wouldn't help. The thing was, there was so little for him to find. Dragons had such books available because there used to be quite the trade in dragon eggs until the last couple of centuries when it was made illegal. It was hard to maintain the statute of secrecy if some stupid wizard or other grew such an oversized lizard in their back garden.

What he had managed to compile said that the very young should be fed a mixture of milk with honey and meat scraps when they're newborn. The teeth grow very quickly however and they can move onto solids after about a week, which Harry thought was a blessing since he had been witness to Arc's attempts at making baby formula. The reason she was making baby formula has been forbidden from being mentioned in the clock tower as no one wishes to endure that horror a second time.

It was with Harry's mind occupied like that when the redhead had gotten complacent enough to think he could one up Harry Bloody Potter. He fired a slug vomiting charm at the back of his head.

It had absolutely no effect.

Let us take a moment to remember that Harry is the blood adopted child to Zelretch, Stheno, Euryale and Waver. While Waver is human and all that entails the other three aren't. A dead apostle ancestor has magic resistance all of their own and the gorgons have a high resistance as well. When Harry ages he will also possess a certain level of resistance to magic but with him being so young it is prone to fluctuating. With his focus on his task coupled with the stress he has been feeling lately Harry does not even notice the spell cast at him.

"What the bloody heck?" Weasel, as eloquent as ever, does manage to get his attention where his spell failed.

"Can I help you, Weasel?" Harry asked tiredly, he really wasn't in the mood for this.

"Yeah, you can stop trying to mess with proper Gryffindors and go back to the puffs unless they don't want you?" Harry looked the boy up and down before replying.

"Who I make friends with is no concern of yours, leave me be." With that he turned back to making that guide for Arcueid. He didn't think that the idiot would try and curse him from behind but as he turned back around to face the table, a sickly yellow spell just missed him. Whirling around again to face the Weasel who's face was contorted in fury Harry just had to ask.

"What the hell is your problem? Why do you insist on making problems for me?" Ronald Weasley had had enough of trying to hold his temper in check, something he wasn't very good at to begin with, and yelled.

"You're going to be a dark lord, why wouldn't I have a problem? You probably are planning something right now. What is all that, a design for your own dark mark?" Harry kept his temper down, he couldn't explode in front of all the students in the great hall, it would bring the vultures down on him.

"Just because I want nothing to do with you does not mean I am dark, unless you have something else to say that doesn't include unjustified slander let me know." Harry gathered his things together and stalked from the hall leaving Weasel stood two tables over from his own wearing a smirk of triumph at having chased Harry away, he was unaware of the disapproving looks many of the students and even the staff were sporting.

That wouldn't stop him from receiving several detentions however.

xxxxx

The day came, the egg would hatch on that Wednesday and Harry would take the newborn chimaera to Arcueid who was probably spending the day in his quarters right now, waiting for Carl(a) to arrive. The name would depend on the gender, Hagrid thought it was male and Arcueid said that she knew it would be female and Harry really didn't care.

Walking over the grounds towards Hagrid's hut the three of them, Harry, Hermione and Neville, were deep in conversation about the chimaera they were, even now, heading towards. Hermione had read all she could about them and had contributed to Harry's guide for Arcueid but she was far more interested in trying to find out about this 'mysterious' friend of Harry's than she was about the chimaera egg that should hatch later that day. Neville was giving the two of them amused glances as Hermione kept trying to get answers out of Harry with no success, he had also contributed to the conversation with what he'd found out about chimeras which was pretty limited to what plants were good for their diet and health.

Hermione didn't stop trying to interrogate Harry until they reached the hut and knocked on Hagrid's door. Though grateful for everything Hermione had found that he hadn't, Harry was irritated by her digging into his life once again. Sighing as Hagrid answered the door and let them in his eyes immediately sought out what he'd come here for, the egg. It was sat in a nest made from numerous blankets and rags that now rested on the table in the middle of the room.

"Remind me again, who thought it was a good idea to raise a chimaera on school grounds?" Harry asked.

Hagrid shifted from foot to foot guiltily. "I couldn't just leave him like that, he needed someone to take care of him."

Harry really didn't understand why Hagrid's mothered wild animals like he did, he could appreciate them as well as anybody but he failed to see why someone should interfere with something that was so wild naturally. That might be why he connected so well with Elestia, he appreciated the forest and its inhabitants but saw no reason to interfere any further than they wanted him to.

"Leave him? Where on earth did you find him? Chimeras are greek not British, I don't know why one would even be here." Harry muttered. There was a reason that the chimera appeared in greek mythology and not elsewhere in the world, it was their natural habitat after all.

"I won him." Hagrid replied.

"You won him? Hagrid, what kind of places do you frequent that deal with chimaera eggs as gambling options?" This was surreal for Harry. The law stated one thing and it looked like just about anyone could get their hands on illegal materials just by going down the corner shop.

"It was at the Hog's Head in the village, I go down there for a few drinks pretty regularly. The Three Broomsticks is all well and good for 'proper' company but if you want to get tipsy then the Hog's Head is where you want to be." That at least explained where the egg had come from but wouldn't the DMLE shut down an establishment that ran illegal activities as the norm?

"Does the Hog's Head at least have some respectability about it?" Harry asked, what was the redeeming features of this place? It sounded like somewhere to get drunk and do back door deals rather than somewhere that should be in such close proximity to a school.

"You get all sorts in the Hog's Head, most other establishments don't accept what people call dark creatures. The Hog's Head accepts anyone and many find it's a cheap place where you can disappear for a while and none of the patrons will care that you're there." Well that was a point in its favour, it was stupid how the wizarding marginalised some beings simply for how they were born.

"What sort of person gambled the egg?" He was getting rather curious now and was disappointed that students didn't get to visit the village until third year.

"Dunno really, he had a cloak on and a hood up. He could have been anyone." On seeing the looks the trio was giving him, Hagrid elaborated. "I just told you there are a lot of folk that don't want there presence to be shouted all over and loads of them hide themselves like that, it's completely normal."

Harry shrugged, some people in the clock tower concealed themselves while conducting business so he wasn't unaccustomed to the idea. He did, however, want to know how one goes from being a complete stranger to handing over something as pricey as a chimaera egg.

"Did you talk about anything interesting with this individual?" Harry was beginning to get a sinking feeling. Hagrid wasn't known for keeping secrets and a drunk Hagrid was unlikely to be any better, he knew things that shouldn't really be bandied about.

"Oh, yeah. He wanted to know what I do and I told him that I look after the grounds here and make sure all the creatures hereabouts are alright, that unicorn you found came up, some other stuff too." That was fine but it was curious why this person didn't know that, Hagrid had been at Hogwarts for about fifty years and he was pretty identifiable. Anyone who knew a thing about Hogwarts would know Hagrid so why didn't this guy?

"How did that end up with you leaving with a chimaera egg?" He prayed to any deity that would listen that Hagrid hadn't given up sensitive information for what was, in simple terms, an illegal pet.

"Well we were playing cards, keeping things pleasant, when we started talking about the different creatures I know and look after. I told him that I always wanted a dragon but I'd also really like to show everyone how they don't understand creatures at all. They see monsters but they really wouldn't hurt you unless you provoke them. That was when he said he had a chimaera egg with him but he didn't want it going to a bad home. It took a little convincing, he asked me how I kept everything calm when I'm working with them and I told him that you just need to know the animal, take Fluffy as an example. With Fluffy you just play him a bit of music and he falls right asleep." Hagrid's face froze. "I shouldn't have told you that."

Harry was quick to calm him down. "Don't worry Hagrid, I already knew something like that might work. A cerberus is part of greek mythology and Orpheus was supposed to have lulled it to sleep by music. That's something a muggle may know if they are into Greek mythology like I am so don't think that you've spilled such a great secret to me at least." Harry wondered if it was also part of the wizarding myths "Isn't that part of the wizarding mythology?"

Hagrid looked surprised for a moment but it was Neville who answered. "Wizards don't read things like muggle myths, they think of them as children's stories that shouldn't be read. I tried to read one once and some of the descriptions of magical animals is so wrong it isn't funny, I guess that inaccuracy is why wizards avoid them. A half-blood or muggle-born might know but very few pure-bloods would bother with them and only those that don't think of muggles as trash." That explained why such a thing wouldn't be common knowledge at least.

A cracking noise emanated from the table that disrupted the conversation, the egg was hatching. Truthfully, Harry had expected a chimaera to be more mammal than reptile and, as such, give birth to live young so when he had found out that chimeras laid eggs, in his readings since visiting the forest, he had been rather surprised.

The four of them watched as the cracks on the egg grew longer and wider until one piece went flying off. Leaning closer, they watched as the slimy lion's head push its way out, coated in the fluid from the egg's inside. It didn't take long after that for it to completely exit the egg and collapse on the table in front of them all.

The first good look that Harry got of it made him think one thing, 'damn that's ugly'. He supposed that when it was washed and wasn't coated in slime then it might be more attractive but even then it would never win any beauty awards. The lion's head had no fur on it and it looked rather wrinkly right now, the goat's body was also rather chunky in shape. Instead of a snake like the legends said, it had a dragon's tail which was covered in dark green scales. Even without the bright lustre that snake scales had, the tail was probably the most attractive part of the chimaera right now.

It looked around at Hagrid, Neville and Hermione before it's eyes came to rest on Harry. It crawled towards him and started snuffling at his hair while mewling pathetically.

Everyone froze.

Neville's muffled snort was the signal to begin laughing as both he and Hermione started to laugh uncontrollably. "Oh merlin, it thinks you're its mummy" Neville giggled, Hermione didn't manage to say anything as she looked up only to be overtaken by laughter again. Hagrid looked a little put out that the newborn hadn't come crawling his way but Harry thought it made sense. While Hagrid could not possibly be fully human, Harry was far more in tune with wild things and predators which the chimaera undoubtedly was. Harry even wondered for a moment if his predatory gorgon heritage played a part in it, if it had then he was certainly going to let his sisters know his displeasure. Oh heck, if Euryale or even Zelretch heard about this then he'll never hear the end of it!

Harry sighed "It looks like it's time to say goodbye to your little friend Hagrid. I'm sure that I can bring him to visit over the summer if you wish to see him again." Harry stopped for a moment and picked the hatchling up. "Correction, if you want to see her again." So Arc was right, it was a girl.

After giving the newly hatched chimaera a wash and feeding her a mixture of milk, honey and chicken blood, Harry picked up the newly christened Carla before stepping out the door.

"Well, I must get Carla off to Arcueid. I'm sure she's waiting patiently for her new companion. Goodbye guys and I will see you at supper tonight." With that Harry walked around the side of the hut disappearing from view.

Hermione snorted as she, Neville and Hagrid went to follow him out but when they looked around the corner Harry had vanished.

"How does he do that? Where did he go?" Hermione was obviously upset at having something so near she couldn't work out and huffed as the three of them headed for the castle.

xxxxx

Back at the clock tower, as he was handing the chimaera off to Arc, Harry thought back to everything that Hagrid had said. An unknown individual now knew how to bypass the cerberus, that wasn't good. He'd bet a fair amount that it was either Quirrel or someone working for Quirrel. Whatever was going to happen up at the castle was going to happen sooner rather than later and he'd be damned if he let the shadow get away, he still had to dish out revenge for the unicorns after all.


	16. Facing the Two Faces

AN: This chapter was probably the most difficult to write so far and I'm still not happy with how it ended. I've also been randomly looking at anime openings recently and found I really liked the song for Dream Eater Merry's opening but it was Shaman king that made me pause. What would you guys think if I involved some sort of Shaman King thing between Harry and Helena? His element is spirit after all. I'm looking forward to how people react to the servant summoning which is going to happen in one or two chapters as I already have that planned out. As always there is my forum which has a link in my profile or can be found here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

Enjoy the chapter.

Beta'd by NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 16 – Facing the two faces

Harry didn't know when the situation in Hogwarts was going to come to a head but he decided that when it did he would be prepared. He tried harder and harder during his morning workouts, getting up even earlier than he did before. For some reason he wasn't getting tired despite only getting three or four hours of sleep every night and he didn't know why.

Presently he was trying to further control how he manipulated his hair. He had gotten a lot further than his spars with Bazett the past summer, there he had only been able to 'push' it in one direction at a time but now he had it holding two daggers and was working on dexterity as well as focus. He'd developed some exercises to improve his control over his hair, from writing with a pencil (With his hair the handwriting was atrocious even on the odd times it was legible) to juggling (He could barely manage one ball right now) and even attempting to copy some sword forms which he was getting better at.

Harry was very grateful that he'd learned memory partition when he was younger, it allowed him to split his focus between several different tasks at once which allowed him to improve far more rapidly than if he tried to incorporate everything in a bit at a time. The proof was with the enchanted mannequins he faced, before he could only match them if he fought one-on-one but his situational awareness had improved to the point where he could face four opponents set at level seven difficulty and win more than he lost, his hair manipulation really came in useful when he was outnumbered and he swore that he would eventually be able to wield six weapons with his hair alone.

xxxxx

Looking down on this from a high tower, Dumbledore wondered where the boy's recent drive had come from. He had seen Harry practising his skills before but recently he had been getting up long before the sun had risen whilst facing off against an increasing number of those dummies that Filius had charmed for him. The skill he had displayed was awe inspiring as well as frightening.

He'd seen Harry kick off from the ground and leave a small crater behind whilst engaging the mannequins at speeds Dumbledore found hard to follow with his eyes, he'd taken to replaying them in the pensieve and slowing it down. The fighting style itself was also rather eye opening, when he'd looked at the petrified troll he'd seen physical injuries that were mostly around the head, inside leg, base of the spine and the base of the neck. It seemed that Harry was aiming for vital points that would quickly take his opponent down with a minimum of fuss. While taking them down quickly was a good idea that he himself agreed with, the vital points were also the most risky to strike at and could easily result in a fatal wound.

Dumbledore was trying to make sense of how a boy Harry's age could learn the sort of things he'd seen. The wandless conjuration was rather impressive, that the weapons he conjured had runes carved into them was something he'd never seen before and if the sheen of the blade was any indication then they had been coated in a potion or poison of some sort. Harry seemed to favour a strange assortment of blades, his hair held short swords or daggers whilst Harry himself wielded either a halberd or some strange hand scythe with a chain attached to it with a weight on the end. The former he used when he needed extra reach with his longer armed foes while the latter's chain was used to entangle them whilst Harry used his advantage to close in and strike with the blade. The other magic that Harry used, those orbs, was also very intriguing. He seemed capable of summoning about a half dozen of them silently but required that unusual incantation if he wanted more, Dumbledore had also seen one occasion when the orbs weren't a ghostly blue but were blazing fireballs, unfortunately he hadn't seen how they had changed or if there was any other way to change them.

Those particular skills, the orbs and ridiculous enhancements to speed and strength, were the ones which he didn't understand at all but the runes were something that he thought might be easier to understand. He'd once found a house elf washing Harry's clothes by hand and had asked why he didn't use magic. It turned out that all of Harry's clothes, even his underwear, had runic arrays sewn into them that prevented magic affecting them directly, to a degree at least, and made them more resistant to wear and tear. Dumbledore had been understandably curious about them and had duplicated the array to show to professor Babbling.

When Babbling had seen the arrays she was understandably curious. Her seventh years worked on hexagonal runic patterns for their NEWTs but not to the complexity of these ones. Whereas her seventh years used a single rune for each point of the hexagon, Harry had used a series of six runes per point which reinforced and strengthened the whole array as it was essentially composed of thirty-six runes. After a closer look it turned out each set of six was for a separate task. One set was for temperature regulation and was based on Hagalaz and Kauno, one was for physical defense and was based around an Uruz rune, one was for magical defense and leaned heavily on a Laguz rune, one was for increased speed and defense that combined Raido and Uruz whilst the last two were resistance to mental effects and heightened awareness respectively, the latter acting like a super-sensory charm. What had Bathsheda even more intrigued was how all six were woven together so they all strengthened each other whilst making it more difficult to overcome, you would have to collapse all six at once rather than one by one like was usual. Dumbledore wondered if Harry would choose runes as one of his electives as it seemed he already exceeded the seventh years and could possibly achieve a mastery in it.

Apart from the excessively good runic work, Harry's grades were also rather high. According to Madam Pince he had been reading texts from second and third year already but seemed to be no further ahead in regular subjects than some of the Ravenclaws in that year.

Asking the professors about his progress in each of their lessons was also proving how good he was. Minerva had stated that Harry was fond of the 'Avifors' spell which turned small objects into birds and, with concentration, had altered the claws and beak of his transfigured creatures to greater density and sharpness. He'd also been seen reading up on the 'Oppugno' spell which caused conjured, charmed and transfigured things to attack a target. Filius had mentioned how Harry seemed to concentrate on rather direct charms such as the animation charm that first years were taught and had asked about glamour charms which had led Filius to direct the boy to the books 'Seeing the Unseeable' and 'Hiding in Plain View'. Pomona had also given rather unusual reports recently, the plants used to treat Harry no differently than anyone else and Neville Longbottom really shone in that lesson but now the plants, especially the more wild ones, seemed more at ease to the point where Harry was seen giving the venomous tentacula a high-five after a lesson. Cuthbert Binns actually remembered who a student was for a change and mentioned an 'unsettling' feeling whenever Harry was close by, there was also the fact that the only ghost that was seen near Harry was the Grey Lady which was odd and Dumbledore made a note to ask the ghosts if they too were unsettled when near him. Aurora mentioned that Harry was quite knowledgeable about astronomy and knew all the old Greek stories that were related to them. Quirinus, when he managed to speak around that stutter, mentioned that Harry was definitely a ways above average in class but didn't elaborate on it.

Severus gave the most surprising account of all though. Harry had apparently made a reaction table detailing every ingredient used from first through seventh year and included a variety of different effects. Severus had asked Harry if he could use this in potions lessons and he had replied in the positive, the chart could now be seen on the wall in the potions classroom and Severus had duplicated parts of it to be handed out every year. The results of this little project was that the number of accidents during lesson had decreased, whereas before it wasn't unusual to have a failed potion turn up three or four times a week there was now only about one every other month. The quality of potions had actually gone up and a number of them had ended up in the hospital wing for Poppy to use. Harry's potions in particular were exceptional and Poppy only used them on the worst cases as they had turned out to be more effective than the bought ones they used to fill the infirmary's supply cupboard every term. When he asked if Harry did any potions work on his own, Severus had replied that Harry often brought extra ingredients to lesson and made several potions for himself. The potions he made were basic medical potions such as a magical disinfectant, bruise balm, wound cleansing, blood replenisher, muscle relaxant, pain relief and the lesser version of skele-gro that fixed broken bones instead of regrowing them. Given the intensity of some of Harry's sparring sessions it was rather understandable.

Looking back at all of it Dumbledore could only think one thing, 'Harry is preparing for something, something involving conflict. Harry had shown no interest in the third floor corridor or the stone so the question is what was he preparing for?'

xxxxx

Dumbledore wasn't the only one to pick up on the increasingly tense pre-teen. The general school populace already knew that Harry didn't like anyone asking him questions. A few individuals were close enough to get some idea of what was up with him, Neville and Hermione got the most complete version but even then it wasn't much besides "Something is going to happen before the year is out, watch yourselves." which confused and worried both of them.

Snape just gave the boy a raised eyebrow once to which Harry gave a small twitch of the lips in imitation of a smile and a shake of his head the meaning of which was clear, 'I will solve my own problems'. Snape knew what the headmaster had planned, how could he not since he had brewed the potions and wrote the riddle himself? That puzzle would prove to be nothing to Harry and he doubted the other protections would give him pause. Severus Snape prided himself on being a Slytherin, he wasn't as naïve as others, and he knew that the headmaster had some sort of plan in mind for Harry, Quirrel could easily be a part of it too. If anyone was to get themselves out of a trap then it would be the one Hufflepuff who possessed the cunning of a Slytherin.

xxxxx

Harry was getting frustrated. He'd only slept three hours and he was wide awake, not drowsy in the slightest. He decided that the best thing to do was read a book and hope this problem, if it could be called that, would have a solution to it. He checked himself for charms and enchantments, potions and curses but he found nothing, he had not been messed with in the slightest, at least not via magical means.

It wasn't until he was at the end of one particular book, 'Mental Fortifications', a tome devoted to building occlumency defences that he found something to explain what was happening:

_The human brain uses sleep as a time to organise and store thoughts and memories. It has been proven that those who have well developed occlumency tend to sleep for shorter stretches of time due to their minds already being organised prior to rest. An advanced occlumens may find that they require no more than two hours rest in a two day period. There is a confirmed case from the early eighteen hundreds of a wizard who developed occlumency at an early age and required no more than a half hour of rest every four days._

'Bugger!' is all Harry thought. He didn't know what he was going to do with himself, he was already breaking curfew with how early he awoke every morning to do his physical exercises and sparring sessions. If he started only needing half an hours sleep every four days like that mentioned wizard then he was going to go out of his mind with boredom.

Deciding there was nothing he could do about it now, Harry put the book down before picking up another. This book was one of a very few, a book on Reality Marbles. Harry had begun to wonder about the theory behind them and similar phenomenon. There were several aspects of magecraft which were supposed to bear similarities with Reality Marbles and he'd lost count of things that had been declared pseudo-Reality Marbles such as Kiritsugu Emiya's time alter skills as well as the true Reality Marbles such as Lair of the Beast King belonging to Nrvnqsr Chaos, Depletion Garden belonging to Satsuki Yumizuka and the forest of Einnashe was thought to be a Reality Marble.

Harry was curious about the wizarding concept of a mindscape and how similar that could be to a Reality Marble, the only difference being that a Reality Marble could be projected into the outside world. Harry was playing around with the idea of establishing a bounded field and then trying to force the concept of his mindscape onto it. If successful then he would have something rather similar to a Reality Marble himself. He had the advantage of his mindscape being aggressive towards intruders unlike the book examples which consisted of walls and other fortifications that delayed an opponent but did nothing to combat them. He had decided that if someone wanted to invade his mind then he was not going to play around with them by simply building a mental wall around his mind. No, he had instead created something which could be described as a copy of the forest of Einnashe within his mindscape.

He was currently doing nothing but theory work on this subject but he was quietly confident in what he had already worked out. A bounded field at its most basic separated one area from another, it created a boundary between them as it were. A Reality Marble separated the outside world from the 'reality' that manifested within the designated space, then a recreation of the inner world of the magus who was summoning it would be formed. This basic comparison seemed to work in Harry's head but how much prana would it take to manifest? Gaia eroded Reality Marbles because they were anomalies. They were described as anomalies because they weren't created by spirits but Harry's element was spirit whilst Harry himself was still human or at least partially so. Seeing as he viewed himself as a gorgon first and a vampire second before regarding himself as human, that might have some bearing on whether it was at all possible and how easy it would be to manifest and maintain. He would do as much research as possible beforehand though and he would ask Arcueid about some concepts behind marble phantasms too.

Harry then began to imagine what it would be like if he did manage such a feat. He would have to keep this ability a secret from everyone at the clock tower considering how close it came to breaking the taboo on Reality Marble development, a very touchy subject with many magi. If he did manage to project his mindscape into the real world Harry wondered how much of it would be brought forth, the trees he'd made had not been an original part of his mindscape so that was something to consider. Then again if he did manage to bring all of his mental creations with him, the forest in his mind had become full of life, then would his other creations come as well? He had created wolves based on Primate Murder, wyverns based on what he'd seen in the forest as well as a host of other creatures including dragons and chimeras. He had included a number of venomous snakes too, he liked snakes, as well as a variety of predators from the muggle world. If he managed to bring all of that into a bounded field and have it act like a Reality Marble then he would have a very potent weapon. His research at present was all about the concepts and whatever similarities and differences there were between bounded fields and Reality Marbles, his research would then move on to records of Reality Marbles from the past, both demonic and human, to aid him, he was thinking of asking Waver for his memories of Ionioi Hetairoi, the Reality Marble of his servant from the fourth grail war. He would then try and manifest a small part of his Reality Marble such as one of his snakes or perhaps a wolf or tree, that would show that he could indeed connect his mental landscape with the real world, before trying to go full scale somewhere out of the way, a bounded field that size would attract a lot of attention he'd want to avoid, and recording his notes in one of his journals.

xxxxx

It was several weeks later, and just a few weeks until end of year exams, when Harry had been walking through the hallways of Hogwarts, trying to memorise as much of the castle as possible, when he found something unusual, there was a painting of a large snake on the wall.

Most would not find such a thing surprising but Harry had noted that every painting in the castle was either a landscape or it contained a person, occasionally there was a horse too but only as a mount. There was no other snakes or any of the other house animals except on banners. Approaching the painting after a quick look around Harry spoke to the snake in parseltongue.

"_W__hat is one like you doing alone in these halls?"_ The snake immediately perked up at Harry's voice and it seemed to give a shifty look around before replying.

"_What do you mean? I am but another painting, nothing particularly special about me."_ Harry almost laughed at that, a painting it might be but a quick structural grasp revealed that it didn't hangover a wall but rather an empty space, much like a doorway.

"_All the other paintings here are of humans but not you. There is also the fact that you are not flat against the wall. What chamber lies beyond you?"_ The snake once again gave a shifty look around itself before replying.

"_Clever young one. May I ask what led you here and why you ask this of me?"_ Harry took a quick look around. Now that he was looking it became even more obvious this was supposed to be hiding something, the portraits on this corridor did not have a single living being in them apart from this snake, this painting was also on the inside of a corner which meant someone looking at it would be able to look both ways down the corridor whilst speaking to the snake and a quick structural analysis showed that the nearest secret passageway was about twenty metres away. Once he relayed all of this to the snake it laughed.

"_Smart, very smart. No one has ever even asked me to open before, not realising I covered a secret chamber. I thought the marauders would almost a decade and a half ago with their oh so special map but it turns out the wards on this room aren't tied in to the main castle wards and so the secret was kept"_ That got Harry's attention.

"_What map do you speak of?"_ the raven and purple haired boy asked of the painted serpent.

"_They thought they were so clever. They made a map that shows all of Hogwarts and everyone in it, it was tied into the central ward stone beneath the great hall. They thought themselves to be so smart as they used it to avoid the faculty whenever they played a prank. They didn't notice they used it in plain view of the portraits. I may not be able to converse with the others but I do hear what they say, I thought that map would reveal my secret but it only works on things tied to the central ward stone and this is one of several places in Hogwarts that is separate from that."_ The snake laughed to itself for a bit, it seemed grateful to have someone to speak to. Harry supposed he would get lonely all by himself, incapable of even speaking to anyone he met.

"_What other places are there that aren't covered by the general wards of Hogwarts?"_ Harry was curious about this, what was so precious that it required either separate or additional security?

"_I can't say where they are but I can tell you what they are. The founders each made two separate locations each independent of each of other and one all together which means there are nine locations in all. I am Salazar Slytherin's library and ritual room, the other chamber of his is well known now as the chamber of secrets. I believe Godric Gryffindor made an armoury as well as some kind of enchanted training room. Helga Hufflepuff left behind a scrying chamber and some place she called the warren, it is a central chamber which had secret passageways all over the school which aren't covered by the Hogwarts wards, you must find the entrance to the central chamber first and be keyed in by its guardian before you can use them. Rowena Ravenclaw however made something rather incredible, a room that responds to the desires of those that use it. The room can't break the laws of magic but just about anything else is fair game. I believe that Rowena's other room was a music room, rather simple, as she had quite a varied taste in music to put it in polite terms."_

Harry had to ask _"And in impolite terms?"_

The snake eyed him for a moment before chuckling _"It was a bloody din. She would pick up an instrument and try and play it before getting bored and moving on to something else and she would do it again and again, not improving in the slightest. I think that is the only room outside of the central tower that actually had input from the other founders, a silencing ward."_

Harry and the snake laughed together at that, it painted a different picture of the founders than the history books did. The founders were human at one point just like anyone else and they all had virtues and vices. It wasn't long before Harry and the snake stopped laughing and Harry asked.

"_May I come in then?"_ the snake eyed him for a moment.

"_We were given enough intelligence to judge for ourselves who would have access to the chambers we guard. We are supposed to choose based upon our values. You certainly have the cunning necessary but what about ambition?"_ the snake asked Harry who stopped and thought about it for a short while.

"_That's a difficult one for me. I have my family and I'm happy with it. In this world I have the social standing of an ancient and noble house on top of being the boy-who-lived so family, fame and money aren't an issue for me and that is what most ambitious people want. I suppose that I want to fight in the Holy Grail War, I want to prove that I am my own person, that I can stand up for myself. At home I am surrounded by powerful figures, a number of them have positions of authority as well, and I am the apprentice, the little brother figure that everyone looks fondly on. I want to be able to stand on my own two feet and say "Damn right I did that, that was me!". The boy-who-lived thing doesn't count as that wasn't done consciously, if I did anything at all, and I hate being known for it."_

"_Ahhhh,"_ the snake sighs _"You wish for recognition of something that you made or did yourself without the aid of others. It is an admirable goal and, I believe, it is ambitious enough so I can grant you access. Good luck with whatever you decide to do with yourself and please come back and talk in a while, good conversation, well any conversation at all really, is nearly impossible here."_

Harry let out a small laugh and agreed to come by and speak every now and then before the portrait swung outwards to let him in.

The room he entered was square and had a door in every wall. It had a smooth floor that was some kind of coloured stone, the emblem of Slytherin house etched there. The walls were covered with deep green banners that lent warmth to the otherwise bare room.

Looking through the door directly opposite himself, Harry found what appeared to be a bedroom of some description. There was a bed covered in a black bed spread lined with silver thread, a wardrobe which held old-fashioned robes and styles long past. There was a set of drawers containing quills and ink as well as a few other knick-knacks that Harry didn't know. The carpet was thick and coloured a deep forest green which was in amazing condition, everything in the room was in amazing condition as if someone had only just left. The explanation seemed to be the magic that had been used here, the air was heavy with prana, and Harry gently probed the wards that had been used here. There was the general wards that he'd seen throughout the rest of the castle but it only covered these four rooms, there was several additional wards too. A ward to prevent detection through magical means, a ward that seemed similar to a preservation spell and several more.

Harry soon left that room and looked in another, this appeared to be the ritual room. It was cold and everything was plain, smooth stone. There was a large circle etched into the middle of the floor and a quick structural grasp proved it to be as perfect a circle as a human could make. There was a set of shelves at the back of the room from which a heady aroma emanated. Following the scent to the pots and tubs on the shelves, Harry found a number of herbs and materials used in the rituals of this world. Looking around the room, Harry thought that it held a somewhat ominous feel but that felt strangely comfortable to him. He shook his head, he didn't need any more proof he was weird. Amortentia was the strongest love potion in existence and was supposed to smell like what attracts you most, Harry wondered what he would smell from it.

Leaving the ritual room, Harry headed for the last doorway. This was obviously the library, the room was stuffed full with shelves holding a number of books. A quick structural analysis revealed no traps that would prevent him from taking them off the shelves and it was with slightly shaking hands that Harry took one off of a shelf to his left.

He sat on the floor and allowed the book to fall open in his lap. Harry sighed, it was in old english and that would take time to understand. He should have expected it really, the founders weren't exactly recent after all, and placed the book back on the shelf. He took another and opened that to find it written in Latin, he could read that without much difficulty, and a quick flick through the book showed that it was about shamanism of the native Americans, a subject which wasn't taught in Europe.

Smiling at this, Harry replaced the book whilst memorising where it was kept before he looked for another book. This book was different to the others he'd looked at so far, it was bound not in leather but in snakeskin and bore no title. There was a shelf at the back which had all of the books bound in such a way and that uniform nature drew his attention. Settling on the floor once again, he opened the book, the writing seemed to be some kind of runic script with its sharp, straight lines but it was no language that Harry had ever seen before. The oddest thing about it was that it was perfectly legible to him, perhaps this was parselscript. He started reading the first entry:

_I, Salazar Slytherin, here leave my memories and thoughts in this journal. The words contained here could prove invaluable to both ally and enemy so, to prevent it being used against me, I have recorded it in the tongue of serpents. This allows me to keep a record for future generations without compromising my own security. I know that this along with the other protections I have employed will mean that this is unlikely to be read for many centuries but that is the lengths I am willing to go. Read this and know my own point of view on the period of time from my birth to my death, I entrust these records to you and can only hope that you use them towards a just goal._

Harry blinked, this didn't sound like the racial hatred that Slytherin was synonymous with today but rather a very cautious man. Harry started reading further and further into the journal getting more an more intrigued by what he read. The first journal covered the first year since he met the other three founders.

There was a general lack of education throughout the land in their time and most magicals learnt through apprenticeships and as journeymen or self-study. Those four had been from various walks of life, Helga had been the only daughter of a lord and she was the only survivor of her family who all fell to disease, Godric had been self-taught and had garnered money to himself as a bounty hunter, Rowena had been the apprentice of the village healer and had a curious nature that took her beyond her village. Salazar Slytherin was the surprise, he had grown up on the streets and when he found he could do magic, he had done anything that could help him survive.

Hogwarts castle had originally been the property of Helga's family but as the only surviving member she decided that it would make a good place to start their school. They had gathered as many of the elder magicals as they could and all of them together had created the wards that had developed into the formidable protections they were now. It was probably the most accurate account of Hogwarts history that he would ever find and, with how rare parseltongue is, he was one of only a very few that would be able to read it without translating it.

Harry smiled as he looked around the small, private library he was in. It looked like he'd found what he could do with his new found spare time. Casting a tempus charm, Harry hurried to his feet, he was almost late to his next lesson. Rushing out of the room whilst hissing a goodbye to the snake that guarded the entry, a large smile could be seen on Harry Potter's face for the rest of the day.

xxxxx

Harry didn't know why everyone was freaking out about the upcoming exams, Hermione had gone so far as trying to force an exam schedule on everyone about two months in advance. He had merely ignored Hermione whenever she worked herself up into a frenzy and when she started trying to focus on him he just disappeared off to Salazar's personal library to read a few more of the tomes contained therein. This frustrated her no end as she inevitably tried to track him down only to find him nowhere, she'd tried asking where he was and he merely replied that he was reading and she assumed that he was in his room which she couldn't get into without his express permission due to his bounded fields.

Harry had looked through his set texts and made a summary of each section as well as asking the second years what their first year exams had been like, he'd asked the third years as well. Looking over what he'd been told it was likely that they would be asked to demonstrate either animation charms or colour-changing charms for Flitwick and Mcgonagall asked for basic transfigurations such as beetles into buttons or mice into snuff boxes. The only one that no one knew what to expect was defence against the dark arts as that had a different professor every year but with what they'd been learning this year Harry thought they were likely to need to demonstrate basic hexes such as stinging spells and knockback jinxes.

Harry was also considering disappearing for a day and sparring with Bazett to see how his fighting skills had improved but he doubted that he could get away with it, it was only because of archaic rules that he'd been able to get out of the castle on weekends to see his family. It was frustrating him that he had to go at the same pace as everyone else unlike primary school where the years were sorted into groups based upon ability with the higher groups helping the lower ones while they received more difficult work, Hogwarts expected everyone to work as a single collective and do keep-up work in their own time. Harry looked up and saw Hermione heading his way and decided to disappear for a few hours in order to avoid a lecture.

xxxxx

Hermione herself was getting increasingly frustrated. How did no one else realise how important their exams were? If they failed these then they couldn't pass into their next year but everyone seemed intent upon ignoring her, except Neville who attended every one of her study sessions, but the worst was one Harry James Potter. She'd noticed it before, the work he handed in was always good quality, she'd asked to compare a fair few times and he'd put things she'd never even heard of in his essays. It was the carefree way that he went about things that irritated her, in the mornings he would do physical training instead of studying for magical exams that they had to pass! She'd actually got up early one morning, very damn early, to see what he was up to and had found that he was already out on the grounds fighting against those charmed mannequins of his, the sheen of sweat on his body indicated that he'd already been out here for a significant amount of time as well.

She'd tried following him but that had turned up nothing, without someone there to declare her a guest she couldn't get into the Hufflepuff common room and on the odd occasion someone had let her in there was some kind of ward that stopped her going in to his room. That had hurt, didn't he trust her? If she was honest with herself then the answer would be no, he doesn't but, then again, Harry trusted no one. He might call her friend but that did not mean she was privy to his secrets whether major or minor unless he was forced to give them up and then he would be resentful because of it.

She'd tried looking up the names he had let slip but she had found nothing about any Shweinorg, Aoko, Altrouge, Arcueid or any of the other names he had used and those were the most distinctive of them. The only result she had gotten was for Stheno and Euryale which were the names of two of the gorgons from Greek mythology but she dismissed that as ludicrous, there was no way something like that could actually exist and the magical history books supported her in this. The history books had referred to the gorgons as three witches who lived on an island off the coast of Greece and tormented the local seaside villages using dark magic to turn the villagers into stone. The hero Perseus had used an enchanted shield to deflect their curse back at them before getting close enough to use a strong severing charm to decapitate Medusa and hold her head high for the locals to see which had been the birth of the myth that muggles knew today.

As those witches would be long dead so that even if Perseus hadn't killed them they wouldn't be alive today due to old age then there had to be someone else who had the same name acting as his guardian. She had once asked Harry for his address so that she could send him letters over the holidays but replying with 'an owl will find me if you address it to the Clock Tower and failing that, the goblins of Gringotts can get one to me' hadn't helped her narrow it down much. She knew he lived in London but whereabouts in that large city she didn't know.

Searching magical places hadn't gotten her anywhere either when she'd tried to look up this 'clock tower' that Harry spoke of, the only magical places in London that weren't private property were Diagon Alley and the Ministry of Magic. She'd searched all over for this place but had found nothing, the names he had used in conjunction with it hadn't helped either as the school records did not include anyone with the surname Velvet or Barthomeloi in them for the last hundred years she had checked.

Harry was the only person who could answer the questions that she needed answers to and he was one person who would not hesitate to deny her. What if she wanted to study at the clock tower? He'd said it was primarily a research institute and she would have loved to be able to do research of her own and to have access to people who were fully capable of answering advanced questions on such subjects had her nearly throttling the location out of him. The fact that he just had an amused smile on his face while he told her that what she wanted simply wasn't possible had her temper higher than it had ever been before.

There was also the disappearing acts he pulled. She had followed him along a deserted corridor before but when she'd reached the corner he'd be nowhere in sight and she'd be stood there in front a painting of a snake looking around for wherever the hell he'd gone this time. She would swear that the damn snake in the painting, which looked far to smug and amused for her tastes, was laughing at her. Whenever he said he'd been reading and she asked the other Hufflepuffs whether he'd been seen passing through the common room they would reply in the negative. That was another thing that peeved her off, Harry had a veritable library in his room on subjects she couldn't find even a reference to in the school library and when asked the professors would say that they didn't recognise the name either. She'd tried looking up bounded fields but it didn't turn up in any glossary she'd looked at and nor had dead apostle, the element and origin thing he'd mentioned, heroic spirits, noble phantasm or aria. The last one, aria, had not turned up anything and when she'd asked Harry specifically about it he'd told her it was similar to an incantation but with different implications and he would explain no further than that it was self-hypnosis and forcing yourself to believe, whatever that meant.

Harry's skill set was also giving her headaches. She remembered what had happened during his duel with Draco Malfoy and had no intention of ever forgetting it, she was still trying to look up what she could about it without success. The closest she had come was a spell called 'orbis impetus' which conjured up a ball of magic and launched it at a target before applying physical force to the impacted area. The problem with this was that the spell wasn't the spectral blue of Harry's but a solid white and it could only be used in a straight line unlike the ones in the duel which zoomed all over the place before impacting against Malfoy. The 'gandr' curse he'd used had also stumped her. The school library had a large number of English tomes of magic as well as a few Egyptian and a few others too but Harry had said it was Scandinavian which wasn't represented there at all! She was also not happy that Harry wouldn't let her read those books, she'd tried once when Harry had left the room for something and that cat of his had scratched her hand when she'd reached for one, Harry had looked mildly amused when he came back and told her that even if he wasn't there she couldn't do as she pleased. She didn't know how Harry had known about what she'd tried to do but it was another question that burned inside of her.

She was also amazed by his ability to conjure things. She remembered the troll incident and how that halberd had appeared out of nowhere when Harry had needed it and she wasn't stupid either, having read up on what kind of strength trolls had Harry should have been squashed flat when he'd placed himself between her and the descending club. That he had gotten out of it without even a trip to the infirmary was beyond what a human should be capable of, the floor cracking beneath him only exacerbated this, and for him to then go on and fight the troll in close-quarters was beyond belief. There was also his act of defying gravity, he had ran horizontally along a wall and his hair had even fallen towards the wall as if it were the ground, that was also supposed to be impossible.

Harry may have had quite an effect on Hermione and she no longer nagged at people constantly, the exams aside, but her core personality could not be so easily altered and that core personality was one that desired answers for everything. The focus had changed from any source she could find to verifying all sources she could find but the focus was still there. Hermione had questions and she'd be damned if she didn't get them answered.

xxxxx

Others in the castle were also focusing on their upcoming exams. Ronald Weasley had been looking at his grades and realised that he really needed to cram or he was going to fail the year. He'd have asked that know-it-all in his house to copy her homework if she didn't associate with precious Potter all the bloody time and if she wasn't with him then she stuck around with Hufflepuffs! It was like she had no house pride, didn't she know that Gryffindors always stuck with Gryffindors? The puffs would stick together as well and the ravens wouldn't need any help with all the damn studying they did. The snakes would just stab each other in the back, that's what they were like as everyone knew, you couldn't make friends with treacherous, evil, little death eater wannabes.

Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, while the stereotype for stupid muscle could also be found trying to cram whatever they could into their heads. They were Slytherins and while they acted as stupid muscle for Draco Malfoy they still had brains but it was unfortunate that their parents really didn't try and interact with their children much and when left alone they had frittered away their time with games and such leaving no time to study or learn, a bad habit which had stuck with them through their early formative years.

In Ravenclaw tower everything was silent apart from the turning pages of books and the scratching of quills on parchment. The elder ravens had imposed a silence on all of the students so that they could focus on their exams, a situation that many of them took advantage of to study themselves or to ask an elder student if they were having difficulties. It was no surprise that Ravenclaw house had the highest average grade in academics with how seriously they took their studies.

While all of this was going on, one Harry Potter had retrieved a book from Salazar's personal library, this one written in Latin, and had taken a seat out near the lake while he read it.

xxxxx

Harry was enjoying his current book, it was on rituals which was an almost forgotten magic due to lack of use, and had decided to enjoy the outdoors as the weather warmed up. He had just gotten to a part on the use of rosemary in exorcisms when he heard something. Pausing for a moment, he lowered the book and reinforced his ears. A small sob could be heard somewhere a little to his right.

Slipping quietly off of his boulder, Harry silently made his way towards the muffled sobbing which was near to a small gathering of trees just a little distance from the forest proper. Transitioning from the shore of the lake onto grass, he switched his walking pattern to maintain his silent steps whilst he approached the trees.

When he was but three paces from the copse he paused for a moment to work out exactly where the crying person was. It sounded like it was coming from around the other side of the tree in front of him as well as being lower than his head height. Taking a few steps to the right and then forwards around the tree brought the crying individual into his view.

It was a girl, one in his year. She wore robes edged with Slytherin green and had brown hair reaching a few inches past her shoulders. He did not know who she was as he had not paid particular attention to anyone who had not interacted with him. There was also the complication of how to act with her, a human female. He knew how to help females in general but that was limited to those he knew back at the clock tower and what would work with Altrouge would probably not work on her. He merely started talking as he tried to think of ways to help.

"I would ask you if you are alright but the tears would suggest that you aren't, I will instead ask if you need assistance of some sort." That didn't come out like he intended it to despite it being a rather accurate image of what he was thinking.

The girl froze at his soft yet musical voice. Slowly raising her head, Harry finally recognised who he was speaking to, Tracey Davis. From what he knew of her she was a half-blood with a pureblood mother and a muggle-born father, the opposite of himself. Whilst her mother's family ties allowed her access to upper society functions, her father's status meant that she was looked down on as being impure despite the great wealth her father had. She had brown eyes that were currently red-rimmed and her face was streaked with tears. She looked shocked to have been found and Harry was sure that his silent approach couldn't have helped matters.

"Seeing as I now hold your attention, may I ask what has upset you?" If he knew that then maybe he could help. Harry may not be some kind of idiot that put the lives of all others before himself and he may act distant towards people in general but he still did not like to see anyone upset.

"What would you want? You're Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, Dumbledore's golden boy so what do you want with a slimy Slytherin?" She asked through her tears.

"I would like to know what has upset you so I may help rectify it. While Harry Potter is my name I would prefer it if people forgot about that ridiculous hyphenated name and I feel rather irritated that anyone would associate me with that lemon sucking old coot and why would you being a Slytherin mean anything?" Harry was rather peeved that someone would link him and the headmaster together as they most definitely had their disagreements.

"You want people to forget you're the boy-who-lived?" Tracey asked incredulously "you aren't Dumbledore's little poster boy?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at the girl despite his blindfold hiding it and asked in a dry voice. "People celebrate the night Voldemort was vanquished while seeming to forget that it is also the night that both my mother and father were murdered. I did nothing except survive where others did not, would you like being known for that?"

Tracey flinched at Voldemort's name but answered anyway. "I guess not. I'd never looked at it that way, everyone sees it as the end of oppression and fear and not as your parents' deaths. That still doesn't explain your attitude towards the headmaster. You could only have been raised by a family that thinks he's the next coming of Merlin as he was the one who told the Wizengamot that you were safe."

Harry snorted. Safe? With the Dursleys? They'd almost killed him before Zelretch's experiment had happened. "Suffice to say, that did not happen. Our dear _headmaster_," Harry lay the sarcasm on thick there "Does not know where I currently reside since I left the guardians he left with me who were unfit for such a task. He is a manipulative old man that needs to learn to keep his crooked nose out of things." That got a watery chuckle out of Tracey. "Now come, what is a pretty thing like you doing here watering the grass with your tears?"

She stopped for a moment and bit her lip, Slytherins were all about getting an advantage over each other and if he was another of her house she would probably not have answered him seeing how much Harry already had over her head but, as a member of a different house, she might answer him.

"My mother is a pureblood from a minor noble house and my father is a muggle-born, my family have wealth but no status and the latter is what Slytherins thrive on." Harry nodded, he knew all of this. "Well, Malfoy said something rather demeaning and essentially implied that if I became his footstool then he would make things 'easy' for me in the future. The thing is, his father does have a lot of sway in the upper echelons of the ministry and could probably pull it off. None of the girls came to my rescue either, it's everyone for themselves in our house and you don't want to get dragged down with a disadvantageous person if they go down. As a daughter of a pureblood I was taught politics from an early age and my position within my house is tenuous at best because my father is both a muggle-born and successful."

"Malfoy senior may have a lot of sway but only the OWLs and NEWTs go through the ministry and then it is the DME, the department of magical education." Harry told her "That department isn't filled with lackeys but has Griselda Marchbanks in it and she's supposed to always be fair, I doubt that he will actually do something like that despite what he might threaten. If what you're looking for is someone to study with then I don't mind if you want to study with me as I doubt you're comfortable going to Hermione with her rather obsessive nature."

Tracey looked incredulous at that "A Slytherin studying with the boy-who-lived? Are you mad? We're supposed to be the future dark lords if you listen to what everyone else says and you are fine with being seen with us?"

Harry snorted "That is stupid and the sort of thing I'd expect of Weasel. I'd be fine studying with you, I don't do so with Hermione as she goes on constantly but I don't think I'll have that problem with you." Harry gained a somewhat feral grin at this point, "Besides, Slytherins are all about gaining an advantage right? What would happen to poor me if a devious little snake took advantage of my fame and status?"

That got a small chuckle out of her and she dried her eyes. "You wouldn't happen to mind if I brought Daphne, Millicent and Blaise along would you? They're all of the 'neutral' houses if you need to know."

Harry shrugged "If they want to come then by all means let them do so."

Some days later people had begun to whisper about the four Slytherins who were studying with Harry Potter. The whispers only grew greater as Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot joined them. After threatening her with a silencing charm, Hermione Granger also joined along with Neville Longbottom and it wasn't long before Su Li and Lisa Turpin of Ravenclaw also joined forming a group consisting of all four houses.

The group all had their specialities, Hermione knew the course by heart and was great at theory work in any subject while Susan Bones knew some parts of defence against the dark arts that the others didn't, Neville was brilliant at herbology but Blaise Zabini really knew his potions, Su Li was amazing at charms and Lisa Turpin had managed to get all seven years worth of notes on Professor Binns' lectures for history of magic, Hermione's best practical subject was transfiguration. No one knew astronomy like Harry did because he always remembered the stories attached to them and he also gave them basic occlumency exercises to try that would help improve memory recall. The group as a collective soon found that they had things in common with each other and it wasn't unusual to see any of the group together outside of their study sessions, Susan explained a few laws and things like that to Hermione as that was a subject not taught at Hogwarts, Daphne Greengrass and Neville Longbottom found that they both had had great expectations piled on them by their parents while not knowing how to handle it and Harry Potter could be seen talking to Tracey Davis on occasion whilst she was smiling brightly. If they knew that they were the first group to include all four houses since the founders, some had come close and represented three houses, then they didn't care about it.

xxxxx

It was one morning after his daily workout that Harry was sitting and having his breakfast. The exams were over and they would be going back home in two weeks, a prospect that excited Harry a great deal as he was going to summon a heroic spirit this holiday as well as not having to wait for the weekend every time he wanted to see his friends and family. He'd had a longer than average sparring match that morning and after getting cleaned up had headed down to eat when the great hall was already part full. His group of eleven students had taken to eating together at various house tables and they were at the Ravenclaw table today.

Taking a seat he looked up from the food before him, after using structural analysis to make sure it wasn't tampered with, to see an empty chair at the staff table. That was odd, Dumbledore was someone that often came down to breakfast early, Harry was sure he liked looking out over the students like some kind of benevolent ruler.

"Does anyone know where the headmaster is? It's odd that he isn't down to breakfast by now." Harry asked and it was Neville who answered.

"I was going past Mcgonagall this morning and she was muttering something about him being called away to the ministry today, she wasn't being very complimentary either." Harry nodded, it didn't sound too odd but before his first class of the morning he went past the third floor corridor and put up a bounded field over the Dumbledore's identification ward that would alert him to when and who crossed the boundary, he had a bad feeling and he had learned to pay attention to his feelings.

Harry's lessons that day were filled with theory of things they would learn in second year. Most of the class weren't paying attention but he made sure to make notes, he would distribute them to his study group when they left for the summer so they all knew what to look up and that would give them quite an advantage when they came back next year.

Harry's bounded field was tripped late in the afternoon but it was only Hagrid, Harry guessed he was going in to feed the cerberus, Fluffy, and he paid it no attention and returned his attention to the book in his hands, 'A guide to bounded fields and correlations with the world egg theory', taking notes on the similarities and differences between general bounded fields and Reality Marbles.

It wasn't until ten that evening that Harry jolted up, his bounded field had been crossed and this wasn't Hagrid, it was Quirrel but there seemed to be something muddying the feeling, perhaps he'd done something to try and confuse Dumbledore's identification ward that had had a partial effect on his bounded field.

Quickly shedding his school robe and putting on his weekend clothes, which included his armour segments and daggers, a feral grin spread across his face revealing his fangs. It was time to find out if Quirrel really was the one who had hunted the unicorns and if so then he would end him!

xxxxx

Harry didn't want to appear on Quirrel's head so he didn't use the kaleidoscope to get there, he simply kept to the shadowed ceilings and avoided the portraits as he headed towards the third floor corridor. He avoided all of the faculty he came across as well as the patrolling prefects as he froze whenever they passed by so he made no noise.

On arriving at the third floor corridor, Harry made sure to reinforce himself and his ears picked up the sounds of harp music coming from the room with Fluffy in it. Collapsing his bounded field and anchoring one to himself so Dumbledore's ward ignored him, he headed straight in and lost no time in heading for the trapdoor which led to the devil's snare.

A few of his flame imbued orbs took care of that challenge without him slowing down as he headed towards the key room. In the next room Harry's reinforced eyes easily picked out a key that was flying oddly as it had a bent wing and he wasted no time in running up the nearest wall before kicking off and grabbing said key on the way past before shoving it in the door and heading through it towards the chess men that awaited him.

The next room was different from what Harry remembered insofar that the chessmen were reassembling themselves ready for another game instead of them being in one piece and waiting for a challenger. He employed the same tactic that he had before and simply ran up a wall and around them before heading into the next room that contained the troll.

The troll was lying unconscious to the room of the room. Taking a quick look at it and a structural grasp made it clear that it'd been knocked out by blunt force to the head, Harry suspected several over-powered bludgeoning spells. Not wanting to deal with the beast on his way back, Harry simply projected a sword and, after reinforcing his arms to their limit, rammed it straight into the troll's eye before igniting the Kauno rune that made it blaze into flames and cook the troll's brain from the inside.

The next room contained the potion vials that he remembered and after a quick structural grasp to prove it still held the same potion as before hew downed the smallest bottle before heading through the fire into the final room, the room that held both Quirrel and the mirror of Erised.

xxxxx

After the flames, Harry projected a bow into one hand and a broad headed arrow into the other hand, chanelling a small amount of power into the Kauno rune on that to heat up the arrowhead to painful levels. He stalked as silent as a panther into the next room and quickly his behind a pillar that was within before stealing over to one that wasn't in direct line with the door. He stepped slightly around the pillar and raised the bow so that it was pointed at the man staring into the depths of the mirror.

"Good evening professor Quirrel. It's a little late for a stroll, was it your night off from patrol?" He asked calmly.

Quirrel jerked up in surprise and his eyes only widened at the arrow pointing right at him, an arrow glowing with heat.

"Ah, Potter. Yes, I supposed that I should have expected you to turn up here. Dumbledore wouldn't be able to help himself trying to evaluate you. I suppose I must thank you, you've made staff meetings rather interesting for me this year." He replied as calm as Harry had been.

"What? No stutter? Dear me professor, it would have been so much easier to understand you in class if you had dropped that ages ago." Quirrel actually laughed at that.

"Ha, you are a smart one aren't you. It helped me though. After all, who would expect p-poor stut-stuttering professor Quirrel? I was a joke to most students and the faculty pitied me, all except Severus and Bathsheda. The latter of the two just didn't care and the former never trusts anyone. Severus has been a pain in my side this year, he tried to stop me on Halloween and that damn dog didn't even manage to rip his leg off properly. I must say that what you did to my troll was rather unique, kudos to you for that. You have been a most unusual person and neither I nor my master can make heads nor tails of you." Harry didn't like the sound of this.

"Your master?" he asked and a spasm made Quirrel's face twitch, this was obviously a sensitive subject.

"Yes, my master. I met him in Albania and since I failed to steal the stone from those damnable goblins he has kept close to me, kept an eye on me and has guided me. Now, be silent while I look at this interesting mirror."

He clicked his fingers and with all of his attention focused on Quirrel, Harry almost didn't notice the rope that appeared from thin air trying to wrap around Harry but he did, barely, leaping backwards to avoid them he, unfortunately, didn't manage to avoid the ropes that had also appeared behind him and he had to let go of his bow because of them wrapping around him, the arrow firing off and missing Quirrel completely, as his arms became entangled. Quirrel clicked his fingers twice more and rope sprang up around his legs and body while he was trying to untangle his arms. Dammit! He shouldn't have announced himself like that, it was over-confident, cocky and arrogant. An arrow through the knee or elbow would have immobilised him or even a gandr shot would have weakened him. Harry vowed that, if he survives this, then he won't make that mistake again.

"Good reaction speed," Quirrel said, "Shame it wasn't enough." He turned back to the mirror and away from Harry.

Harry struggled a little more while Quirrel was occupied with the mirror and realised that even with his reinforced arms the rope was too thick to rip apart and had been magically reinforced somehow. Analysing the rope showed that it had a duro spell cast on it making it far more difficut to break. Harry projected a penknife into his hands and started cutting the ropes, making far slower progress than he liked despite the knife having been enhanced by runes to be far sharper than it really should be. When he had managed to cut the ones binding his arms he kept them loosely covering them to give the illusion that he was still bound as he went to cut at the ropes around his legs before Quirrel's mumblings took a different turn.

"Where the hell is it, I can see myself presenting the stone to my master but where is it?" Harry paused at what happened next. A sibilant, hissing voice emanated from Quirrel that was most definitely not his own.

"Use the boy." Harry allowed his penknife to fade away, he would use the element of surprise this time, as Quirrel looked back at him and then clicked his fingers. The ropes around Harry's legs disappeared but the ones on his arms remained. Quirrel hauled him to his feet, flinching a little on contact with his skin.

Harry had felt it too, when Quirrel touched him there was a burning sensation that while not harmful was a little painful and irritating. Being pulled before the mirror Quirrel asked him.

"What do you see?" Harry decided to be as honest as possible.

"I see my family, I see what I desire most." he replied.

The voice spoke again "He lies, his magical signature is all over the mirror!" Harry hadn't expected anyone to connect his bounded fields with him and he felt out towards them.

It was as he was looking into the mirror that Quirrel fired a spell at him. Having raised his awareness, Harry managed to dodge aside as the sickly yellow spell hit the mirror.

The mirror shattered. Harry blinked in disbelief, he had felt the strong magic that was in the mirror and the wizards hadn't thought to improve its durability at all? If he'd known that then he would have done so when he added his own bounded fields to it but he didn't believe the mirror to be that fragile.

No longer having a concept of 'mirror' to anchor themselves to his bounded fields dissipated letting the prana that they had been composed of to spread out and saturate the whole room. Harry decided to ask the one question that he had wanted to ask all along.

"Are you the one who hunted the unicorns in the forest?" He saw Quirrel about to speak but was interrupted by that voice again but this time it held a very angry tone in it.

"Let me speak to him, let him see the one who will destroy everything he holds dear." Quirrel looked about to say something but swallowed it and began to unwrap his turban. Harry was confused but used the reprieve to increase the reinforcement of his body so he was more prepared for anything that might happen.

When Quirrel's turban had been removed his head looked rather small but that became insignificant when he turned around and Harry came face to face with what should have been the back of a head but was another face instead. It had a flat, slitted nose and harsh red eyes that held no warmth in them.

"Do you see what has become of me, Harry Potter. I, the once great Lord Voldemort am forced to subsist on another like this and only maintained by drinking the cursed blood of unicorns. This is all your fault and I will see you pay for this humiliation. With the stone in my possesion I would have been able to craft a new body but now, thanks to you, that is no longer possible! There are other, less pleasant, methods to regain a body and when I do the first thing I will do then will be to slaughter those you call family. You will be helpless to stop me and if I don't have you killed here and now then you will have a front row seat to their demise." So this was the great Voldemort that he defeated? What was the wizarding world scared of?

"Ha, I'd love to see what would happen if you did meet a few of them. You would not be the victor, of that I'm sure." Right then all Harry wanted to do was to deny Voldemort anything he wanted and something caught his eye, it was one of the larger mirror fragments. As he looked into it he saw someone, it was himslef.

The mirror fragment no longer displayed his family or the outdoors but him as he was in this circular room. His reflection smirked at him and put one hand into its pocket before retrieving that damned stone before replacing it in its pocket. The weight that Harry felt against his hip proved it was more than something that simple though. Voldemort's eyes also alighted on the sudden bulge on Harry's right hip.

"He has it! He has the stone! Stop him and retrieve it!" The parasite screamed. Quirrel spun around and cast a stunning spell towards Harry but Harry dodged it and withdrew his own wand from its holster. Before he could even speak a spell, Quirrel had sent a torrent of spells coming his way.

Reinforcing himself to his limit, and actually risking permanent harm, Harry dodged one then another then another. He channelled prana into his clothes, especially his awareness array as he didn't want to be caught by ropes again. What Quirrel was doing was damned impressive, it really showed that he had done a sabbatical for a year before coming back to teach and Voldemort had probably boosted his spell repertoire. Where Draco had been able to get off a fair amount of spells at speed, especially for one so young, his current opponent was firing at least twice that amount his way and they weren't the contact activate ones either but wide range banishers, bludgeoners and other curses along side the piercing hexes, the bone breakers and the organ rupturing curses, he couldn't tell what they were as a nubmer of them were cast silently. Mixed in with these spells were transfigurations that had Harry surrounded by wolves and snakes all aiming to kill him. The ground where some of them hit left large splinters behind and Harry took advantage of this by repeatedly casting the avifors spell at them to create a flock of birds which he directed at Quirrelmort with a whispered oppugno.

The birds weren't very effective but they did soak up a few of the spells heading his way and he kept up the transfiguration even when some of the curses got through to him. An overpowered dark cutting curse tore open his left leg and a bludgeoner cracked at least two of his ribs, a piercing hex went right through his shoulder and some sort of acidic curse made his arm burn with intense pain. His runic arrays that had held up against ordinary diffindo curses and numerous other spells taught at Hogwarts were proving less effective against whatever it was that was being used against him.

Trying to think of anything that could help him Harry immediately discounted using the Kaleidoscope, it took several seconds of focus to actually use and was less energy efficient than dodging. His fast paced gandr curses were useful for taking out the transfigured beasts that Quirrelmort was sending his way as a single fin shot to their head stopped them cold but Quirrelmort had raised some kind of spherical shield that stopped them dead.

"Crucio!" Quirrel cried and a red spell just clipped Harry's knee as leapt away from it, that didn't prevent the intense pain that spread across his body though. He had experienced worse pain before, the time he'd gained his mystic eyes came to mind, but here his muscles were constantly cramping and twitching despite him trying to ignore it, that would seriously hamper his reinforcement until he could cycle enough prana to mitigate the effects.

"Those orb spells of yours are rather impressive." That damn parasite was talking. "The downside is that they seem to be pure magic that has an effect tied into them and, though a protego shield wouldn't stop them, I know just the thing to take care of that." He was, unfortunately, correct. Using structural analysis on the general area around Quirrelmort let him know the general nature of the shield, it wouldn't stop physical objects but purely magical attacks would need to be stronger than the shield to overcome it.

Quirrel then did something unexpected, he traced a circle around himself that left a silver line on the floor. A moment later a translucent dome appeared before fading from sight again, Harry would be wary of that.

Harry decided that enough was enough and took to the walls and ceiling, that seemed to put Quirrelmort off balance, and he began to project another bow and arrow. Taking pot shots at his opponent, Harry considered removing his blindfold. The only problem there was that it took several seconds and he had to be calm enough to focus on unlocking the seal on it, something that would prove a little difficult here.

A dark purple curse of some kind managed to connect with his right arm and must have affected his nervous system as it went rather limp. Harry invoked his aria **"My soul is a weapon"** but instead of fire, lightning would aid him better here so he continued **"Imbued with the thunder to strike down my** **foes"**. That should be powerful enough to bypass that annoying shield.

As he spoke his aria, orbs began to appear all around the room. These orbs weren't the ghostly blue he'd used against Malfoy nor were they the red of flickering flames, these were clear and barely visible except for the miniature thunderstorms contained in each one.

Harry lost no time in launching them all at Quirrelmort which resulted in an explosion of energy as they all converged on one spot. It proved ineffective however as another look showed that Quirrelmort had conjured some birds that absorbed the attacks.

"Impressive Potter. You will find however that Unicorn's blood works well to amplify a wizards speed and spell strength, without it that little trick of yours would probably have been rather painful but as I am there is little you can do." Harry growled at that damned parasite as it laughed at him.

Hoping to use the bastard's laughter as an opening he projected a halberd into his hands and charged forwards. It was useless, he got within a few paces and was about to plunge the blade into his opponent when a wide range banisher caught him and threw him against the far wall. Coughing up blood, Harry stood and once more began to try and think of a way to fight. He couldn't use the kaleidoscope as that required him to be calm and to focus on it seeing as he wasn't very experienced with it yet.

"Ah Potter. You didn't seriously think that I would forget about your physical prowess? This shield that I inscribed has certain properties." Here Quirrelmort indicated the silvery line that he'd etched on the ground. "If someone other than the caster tries to cross it, well you should be feeling the effects right about now" Harry was confused for a moment before he gasped in pain. Looking down at his stomach, Harry saw a gash that was now flowing with blood. He quickly analysed the circle and he growled in annoyance at what he found. Whenever someone who wasn't keyed in tried to cross it then they would receive an injury dependant on how far they'd crossed before they returned, as Quirrel was at the centre then Harry would receive the maximum injury such as the one responsible for his body being sliced open right now. The problem was hat it applied the effect directly to flesh and thus bypassed his rune enhanced clothing, that spell had more in common with a ward than a shield.

"Oh, that is interesting. You should have been cut in half because of that but you seem comparatively unscathed. What are you Potter? Your blood is not red." Voldemort seemed rather curious about that and he was right, the blood now flowing from under his shirt had a noticeable purple tinge that made it look like liquorice and it was streaked through with black. Harry gave no answer, he ignored everything but taking this bastard down.

No matter what would happen here, Harry was glad that he'd left Len to be a lookout outside the room with Fluffy in it. Len was precious to him and there was no way he would ever risk her if it could be avoided.

His reinforcement was no longer as effective as he would like it to be, the more damage his body took the less of it he could apply. His runes had worked well against weaker spells but whatever was being thrown at him now was overpowering them. This didn't look like a fight he could win! A magus didn't have such a wide variety of spells to use and when you knew what your opponent could do then you could pre-empt their attacks but even this late into his fight Quirrelmort kept using even more curses!

Harry's one success had been when he had managed to project seven blades at once and add a factor of speed to them, that had surprised Quirrelmort. The problem was that the unicorn blood was, once again, preventing the gorgon venom from having any effect and his possessed professor had quickly conjured a bandage around the wound with hardly a drop in the number of curses he was casting towards him. When he'd tried that trick again, Quirrelmort had just transfigured the ground into a shield and stepped around it in one fluid movement. He had to hand it to him, this was a far more intense fight than he had expected. The man seemed to have an answer for whatever Harry threw at him and seemed intent on not letting him get into close quarters, he probably shouldn't have trained out in the open like he had.

Harry didn't know what to do. His reinforcement wasn't as effective with his muscles being cut open and his degrading condition wasn't helping. If he got closer to bring things into close quarters many more of those spells would find their mark but if he retreated then he wouldn't be any more effective than he currently was. Think! What would a magus do here? Barely any of his spells landed on Quirrelmort and he had conjured up balls that looked like marble that now floated around him blocking a number of his spells with barely a scratch. Harry couldn't think, he wasn't resistant enough to spells to go close quarters like an apostle or heroic spirit could and none of his spells could get through like a normal magus. Bazett was an enforcer and she specialised in close quarters so she was out. There were other mercantile people though, heck, the Edelfelts were a fam-. That was it! The Edelfelts were a family that used jewel magecraft like the Tohsakas and he had a jewel in his pocket. He didn't know much about jewelcraft but if he collapsed the structure of a gem he knew that whatever energy it contained would be released.

Casting as many avifors spells as possible to cover his retreat, Harry sprinted back towards the potions challenge. He didn't want to be anywhere near this when it went off. He reached his hand into his pocket and retrieved the philosopher's stone from it. Glaring at this hunk of rock that caused so many problems he began to feed prana into it, not to fuel the effects but to reinforce the gem's structure. He felt it building and building before he shouted over his shoulder.

"You want this damn stone? Then have it!" before flooding it with prana and lobbing it back towards the room he was leaving before diving forward. He would forever swear that he heard the first crack appear in the stone.

Harry then recalled the traps he'd put down last time he was here and his eyes widened at what that would do with both the overloaded stone and the ambient prana from his disrupted bounded fields.

Harry barely had enough time to say "Oh sh-".

xxxxx

Up in the rest of the school many students and staff stumbled as an almighty explosion rocked the castle, waking many of them from sleep. What the hell had happened that could cause the entire castle to shake so violently? None of them would find out until the next day when Dumbledore returned from the ministry to find himself missing a member of staff and a student. Rushing towards the third floor he would find that all of the rooms after the devil's snare had collapsed and only rubble remained. A revealing spell would show that there was a single life beneath it all, that of one Harry James Potter.


	17. End of the Year

AN: Right, first thing first. The fight with Quirrelmort last chapter has been heavily modified and there are small touches throughout the story that have been improved, you can all thank Akk21, Zaralann and Weczer for helping with the improvements (Read as: they actually know something about writing a fight scene and I don't, I've rewritten that scene six times since it was posted). This is the last chapter of Harry's first year and, as some have made mention, it ain't that different from the canon story. You'll find that, as the story progresses, there will be more and more differences, the second has a number of them and I'm going to completely screw with third year, fourth is going to have a number of changes too and fifth won't be anything like canon. As far as other wizarding skills go, I have already thought of an animagus form for Harry that he will acquire a few years down the line and it has nothing to do with snakes. That said, if anyone has any ideas that they think are good then I'll listen to them if you tell me the what and the why.

All that aside, enjoy the chapter.

Beta'd by NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 17 – The End of the Year

Harry came to slowly. He was laid flat and could feel something tight wrapped around him. Trying to think about what it could be he utilised his five regular senses, he lay on something soft with a fair amount of give in it and there was something similar on top of him, he couldn't smell much besides the tang of lemon scented cleaning products. He could hear a low murmuring nearby and the voices were incredibly familiar to him. As Harry opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the stark white of the infirmary ceiling. Harry let out a groan as he tried to sit up.

"He's awake!" A voice cried and Harry was almost instantly flattened by two flying bodies that knocked him back down onto the infirmary bed where he lay.

"In these situations I think I'm allowed to say ow." Harry said and the quiet chuckles around him made Harry feel more relaxed than he had for a while. Harry looked down at the two girls who were stopping him from sitting up and Altrouge's red eyes stared back as well as Len's who was in her human form right now.

"Up!" cried the voice of Madam Pomfrey. "That boy has been through enough without you two aggravating his injuries!" Harry chuckled as the two reluctantly got off him and helped him sit up.

Now that he wasn't pinned down, Harry could see who was here. There was Madam Pomfrey, of course, as well as Altrouge and Len who now stood to the right side of the bed. On the left was Stheno and Euryale, the latter looking happy that he was awake whilst the former looked worried.

"You don't do things by half, do you Harry?" That voice made Harry look up at the foot of the bed where Waver was looking at him with a half-smirk "Saying that, I am surprised it took you this long to get into trouble, you're usually a lot faster at it." Harry snorted in agreement as he looked at the man stood next to Waver, it was Zelretch.

"Young man," He addressed Harry, "as my reputation may tell you, I am not used to worrying. I cause problems, not solve them and I could do without you worrying me like this. We were all worried when you didn't come home for the weekend and we have been waiting for you to awaken."

"Weekend?" Harry asked. "How long have I been here?" It was Madam Pomfrey who replied.

"It was Professor Dumbledore and that blue-haired girl who brought you here on Friday, that was four days ago. I am amazed that you've recovered as fast as you have, especially considering how little effect my potions seem to have had on you." She grumbled the last bit and the look in her eye told Harry that she had some questions that she wanted answers to.

"What happened?" Harry asked, looking at Madam Pomfrey but it was another who answered.

"We were hoping that you could answer that for us, my boy." Harry whipped around and there, standing just inside the doors of the infirmary was the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. "When I came back from my meeting at the Ministry I found that we had a professor and a student unaccounted for. When I went past the third floor corridor I found that all of the chambers apart from the first had been reduced to rubble. A simple revealing charm proved there was someone alive there and I was just about to start digging through it all when that silent blue-haired girl appeared from the depths, dragging your unconscious body with her." He tilted his half-moon spectacles down and gave Harry an intense look over the top of them before continuing.

"It took a day and a half to clear all of the rubble, even with magic, and we found professor Quirrel's turban and robe in the last chamber along with what we think is his corpse. It will take a month to reinforce the foundations of the caste, we are lucky that the ley lines beneath the castle are unaffected. Could you tell me exactly what happened, Harry?" Harry's temper was building and only his occlumency prevented him from exploding in the twinkle-eyed old codger's face.

"What happened headmaster," Harry began in a voice of ice, "Was your incompetent defence instructor tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone from what is supposed to be the safest school in the world. There is also the fact that said professor was possessed by some kind of wraith that manifested as another face on the back of his head underneath that turban he wore. That wraith claimed that it was all that remained of Lord Voldemort, a terrorist that supposedly died a decade ago, and that _thing_ thought that by getting the stone it could regain a body and then embark on another reign of terror starting with, as that parasite said, 'all those I hold dear'."

Harry waited a moment for everyone to process all of that before continuing. "There is also the fact that Quirrelmort has been hunting the unicorns in the Forbidden Forest and drinking their blood in order to sustain himself. I didn't like that and no professor here would take my perfectly reasonable concerns seriously, I decided to confront the man myself and ascertain whether he was the one who was slaughtering the unicorns or not. Imagine my surprise when not a single 'obstacle' even slowed me down on my way to the stone. I think it says something for your security when a single first year can get by all of the additional protections. If that was supposed to be a step up for security then what is the regular security like?"

Harry then decided to elaborate on baby proofing "A Cerberus would have been a far greater threat if it wasn't for the fact that even a muggle child may well know of the myth where Orpheus music made it sleep and devil's snare is a plant studied in first year. The flying keys looked impressive but weren't much of an obstacle seeing as you were kind enough to provide brooms for them and the chess game had a glaring flaw in that you could have taken a broom and simply flown over it."

Harry was now glaring at the headmaster, not that anyone could tell behind the blindfold, and he wasn't alone. The entire room was looking at the headmaster with various levels of disgust. Madam Pomfrey looked like she wanted to break her oath not to cause harm, Stheno had her eyes narrowed and her posture was completely still, Euryale had her lips pulled back in a snarl revealing her long canines, Waver looked like he wanted to set his Volumen Hydragyrum on him and Zelretch's eyes had darkened while his posture stiffened but Altrouge and Len really took the cake.

Len was even now taking steps towards Dumbledore with her hands clenched into fists and murder in her eyes while Altrouge was right by her side with her teeth bared and power absolutely flowing off her. It was that last part that had Harry acting, as much as he didn't like Dumbledore and wished the worst for him, cleaning up after the two of them would be messy. He reached forwards, almost toppling out of the bed, and pulled the two back to him. They climbed up on the bed either side of him and held him in a killer grip, it can be noted that Madam Pomfrey didn't complain this time.

Harry decided to finish his story quickly. "The potions challenge was the hardest but even that was only a delay, now that I think of it a flame-freezing charm would probably have helped there and that is taught in sixth year. The room after that contained a troll, do you have a fetish for the things? A troll managed to make its way into the castle on Halloween and nearly killed my friend Hermione and now I find that one was being kept inside the castle the entire time, did you lower some of the wards so it would be comfortable or something?" Harry took a breath before going on to the next chamber.

"The last room contained a mirror, a mirror I might add that you made me see earlier that year by putting a compulsion charm on one of my belongings." That part really got everyone's attention. "Standing in front of this mirror was Quirrel. We talked for a short while before he removed his turban and put that _parasite_ on display for all to see. We then fought and in the process the mirror was destroyed, that enraged Quirrelmort who became far more aggressive. Somehow, I ended up with the stone which he then tried to seize. We fought for a little longer before I ran from the room, dropping the stone in the process. The stone shattered on the floor, the last thing I remember is an explosion and now this."

Harry looked at the headmaster for a moment before he felt the brush of legilimency against his mind. When Harry spoke this time ice literally began to form on the floor of the hospital wing. "I will kindly ask that you desist in trying to invade my mind headmaster or I may just allow you in and see how effective it really is." He made sure to give Dumbledore his most feral grin and let as much killing intent as he could muster flow towards him.

It wasn't Harry that everyone was looking at though, it was Stheno. She hadn't moved a muscle and her hair had fallen in front of her face obscuring it from view. Dumbledore must have realised something was wrong though as he started hastily making his way out of the door.

Harry felt the brush of displaced air as Stheno was suddenly not at his bedside but had Dumbledore pinned to the wall, looking up into his face. She was completely still, her face unlined with frowns or narrowed eyes. It was the scariest thing that Harry had ever seen, it was just unnatural and no one moved as she spoke.

"Are you going to stand there and tell me that this is the safest school in the world?" Her voice was whisper quiet but everyone heard it, the tone reminded Harry of the edge of ice, cold and sharp.

"Are you going to stand there and tell me how many times Harry has come close to death? Are you going to stand there and expect me to keep quiet while you try and invade his mind? Are you really stupid enough that you can have a possessed professor walking around and no one notices? Are you really going to expect Harry to face more of this alone? I will tell you now that when Harry returns next year he will not be alone and if one of your schemes gets him injured then no one will ever find your corpse, that's if I decide to be that pleasant about it." Dumbledore paled at each of her questions but it was the last part that he found his voice.

"St-students cannot hire bodyguards and the only ones that can accompany them are their pets and familiars i-if they have any." Harry had to hand it to the old coot, he wouldn't have spoken up right then and Stheno's anger wasn't directed at him.

"Then it won't be a problem then. Aside from that, there is only two days left before the train ride home and I will not be letting Harry out of my sight until we have him safe and secure back home, understand?" Harry realised that Stheno was referring to he heroic spirit that he was to summon, he could've laughed when he realised that, since they are technically familiars, they could walk around Hogwarts and it would be well within the school rules.

"A few guest rooms are available if you wish to avail yourselves of our hospitality for two days as guests of Hogwarts." Dumbledore managed to say before he turned and fled the room when Stheno's grip slackened, he really wanted to get away from that scary woman who looked no older than twenty but held a presence that felt far older and far more powerful than she had any right to be.

Madam Pomfrey then turned to Harry.

"Now Mr Potter, there are a few things that I'd like to ask you of a medical nature." Harry stopped her with a raised hand before turning to Zelretch.

"Gramps, can you raise a bounded field for privacy. I don't trust the old coot not to have left a listening charm or something." Zelretch raised an eyebrow but did as he said, a quick structural grasp of the area found two devices, one that acted like a dicta-phone, recording and playing back sounds, and another which was connected to somewhere outside the infirmary. When both of them had been disposed of, Harry turned to Madam Pomfrey and said.

"Can I have an oath that barring life threatening injury you keep what I am about to tell you to yourself and away from all records whether they pertain to me or not?" The serious tone he spoke with took Madam Pomfrey aback but she replied soon.

"I am afraid that all of a student's data is to be kept on file so I can't swear your oath." Harry thought about it for a minute.

"Does the information required include race and/or species?" Pomfrey's eyes narrowed at that.

"Only in cases where it is classed as a disease or involves health issues. Lycanthropy is one such condition and Vampirism is another as they are conveyed through bites and infections but apart from that no." Harry sighed and thought about how to phrase his next question.

"So as long as the change in species wasn't brought about by infection and is not infectious in nature then it does not need to go on record?" At Pomfrey's nod Harry continued. "In those circumstances are you willing to swear that oath?"

This time she hesitated before speaking but soon raised her wand and said "I, Poppy Pomfrey, do swear on my magic and by my Hippocratic Oath to keep the secrets that are to be told to me by Harry James Potter or those he considers family and may only be broken either by him releasing me from this oath or in the case of injury serious enough to threaten his life.,so mote it be."

"I, Harry James Potter, accept the oath of Poppy Pomfrey and entrust the secrets that I and my family share with her shall remain as such until such a time as she is released from the oath, I receive a serious enough injury that not divulging the information will result in my death or until the day I die upon which she would be released from her oath, so mote it be." Harry felt a little weird as he accepted the oath and the prana around the both of them stirred momentarily, proving that some form of magic had actually taken place.

"May I now know why so many of my potions have so little effect on you?" She asked once she'd put her wand away.

"I'm not human." Harry replied bluntly but at the sight of her surprised face he expanded on that. "I was legally blood adopted by Stheno, Euryale, Waver and Zelretch and the only one of them that is human is uncle Waver. Zelretch is what is known as a Dead Apostle Ancestor and Stheno and Euryale are two of the three Gorgon sisters from Greek mythology." Madam Pomfrey looked about ready to deny such outrageous claims but stopped and thought for a second.

"Gorgons are connected to snakes, yes?" She asked and Harry nodded. "That explains some things, a number of the potions I've been using on you use various weakened snake venoms as components but if you are part snake yourself then it follows you would have some resistance to it and hence the potion will be much less effective than it should be. I believe I can work with that." She looked around at all of them before Harry spoke up again.

"How do you even know Greek mythology?" Pomfrey rolled her eyes

"You'll find few purebloods who know the muggle myths but I'm a half-blood and my muggle father was a literature teacher, I've read a number of muggle stories and I am quite willing to accept that the wizards got some things wrong in their history books." Harry nodded, that was reasonable. "Now, I don't recognise the term Dead Apostle Ancestor so, care to tell me what that is?"

"There somewhere between Zombies and Vampires, the Ministry doesn't know they exist and therefore they have no legislation on them. I am not particularly affected by it so there shouldn't be a problem." Pomfrey looked ready to accept that but Harry was sure she'd be doing some research herself regardless.

"Now," she said, "is there anything else I need to know?"

Harry thought about it for a moment but decided, as a healer, she should know what else could be necessary. "It is likely that as I get older, and especially as I go through puberty, that I will gain a resistance to magic in general. As nothing like this has ever been done before we don't know how resistant I'd get so you should probably know that too."

"I'll remember it." Pomfrey said, "I'll also have to look at which of my potions have snake venom as an ingredient and see if I can either source alternatives or get Severus to brew some."

Euryale interrupted her this time. "Harry's Gorgon and Apostle heritage will mean that he will heal quicker than he would otherwise and there is an apostle trick where they essentially reverse time on their bodies to get rid of injuries. Harry can't learn this because he isn't a full apostle but if he ever does become more of one then it may happen."

Pomfrey nodded at that before asking how Harry felt right now. "I feel a little stiff, as if I've just come from a sparring session with Bazett and she's beaten me black and blue but I'll be alright. What does the school know of what happened?"

"They know that Quirrel was trying to steal something that was being kept on the third floor and that you are the one who stopped him, apparently Quirrel cast a blasting curse at a weakened structural support that brought part of the castle down on the two of you and you're in here recovering from that." Harry nodded at Madam Pomfrey's words and lay back as she walked off towards her office.

As she passed outside of the bounded field everyone looked at Harry. It was Waver who spoke first. "There's something else isn't there? I've known you long enough to know when you aren't being completely truthful."

Harry grimaced before replying. "I underestimated him and badly at that. I had the perfect opportunity to disable or cripple him before the fight even began and I wasted it because of my arrogance, I am not going to do that ever again. I also trained in the open and, because of that, he knew what to expect. I was thrown around like a rag doll while all of my attacks were negated or rendered ineffective."

Stheno come towards him and pulled him into a hug. "Then learn, learn from this mistake and be thankful that you're still with us. I will forever be thankful that you became part of our lives regardless of what happens from now on." Euryale came and joined the hug.

"Me two." she said and before he knew it everyone had gathered round and hugged him even the anti-social Waver and the old man Zelretch himself. Pulling back from the group hug Zelretch said.

"I believe that I am the only one of my alternates that has played such an active role in a child's life but you have made me realise what I was missing out on, do me a favour and pick up some of my mischievous traits or I'll feel as if I did something wrong." Harry looked up at Zelretch in disbelief before a snort escaped him and he was soon roaring with laughter.

"Don't worry Gramps, I'll be sure to do a little pranking now and then." Everyone chuckled at that and Harry looked around for a moment. "Not that I'm ungrateful or anything but with all of you here I kinda expected Arcueid too."

Altrouge gave Harry a smirk as she replied. "My little sister is currently looking after her new pet and I also left Primate Murder in her care for 'experience' sake. If she wants to look after a pet then it's best if she knows what she's doing." This was said with such an angelic voice that Harry was sure Arcueid wouldn't be having the easiest of times right now.

Harry just smiled, he was glad to have his family and one of his friends here at least.

xxxxx

The next day Harry went to the guest rooms on the third floor so he could lead everyone down to breakfast, it had been late by the time they'd been settled into the rooms and the house elves had brought supper up to them.

Walking into the first room, Harry found that Zelretch was already awake and looked to be deep in thought. Harry's hand on his shoulder seemed to startle him out of it and he said one thing before walking out the door.

"Next year, remember that you are a Gorgon, a snake above other snakes." That left Harry feeling confused but he would remember it regardless, seriously given advice from Zelretch isn't something you ignore.

Going over to the next door, Harry found a bleary-eyed Waver just waking up. "Rise and shine sleepy-head." Harry called in a bright voice full of sunshine and daisies with added cheerfulness, in other words, a voice totally unsuited to him. All Waver did was groan in reply and Harry told him. "I'm off to wake the girls and if you aren't up by then I will drag you to the Great Hall as you are, I've already done my morning exercises." Waver knew that was no idle threat and instantly awoke and headed towards the shower while Harry retreated and crossed the hallway to the room that the girls were sharing.

Knocking lightly before entering, Harry found that Altrouge was already awake and up. He wondered if early mornings were an apostle thing as he gave her a 'good morning' hug before heading to the room that the Gorgon sisters had shared last night. Opening the door caused Harry to sigh, he used to sleep between them before coming to Hogwarts and since then Len had shared his bed. It was probably an odd thing that an eleven year old boy had shared a bed with girls for six years now but he honestly couldn't see it any other way any longer. He'd seen girls in various states of undress so their naked form didn't embarrass him as it would anyone else and Harry was completely comfortable with that.

Chuckling to himself, he pulled open the curtains so that the light would spill down onto the both of them and when that didn't wake them up he decided to try and shake them awake. That didn't go as planned because as soon as he got close, Euryale grabbed him and pulled him down between them.

"_We missed you Harry, did you miss us too?_" She asked in parseltongue. Harry rolled onto his back and glanced to the other Gorgon sister, seeing she was also awake. Harry took a deep breath and smiled, he could catch the faint scent of their venom and that always managed to calm him down.

"_I have missed this, even if I have been home for weekends. I'm looking forward to sharing a bed with you two again this summer, I also wouldn't be surprised if Len joins us as she has slept beside me all through this year._" He looked at the two sisters and kissed them both on the forehead. "_Now up! We have breakfast to get to._"

It wasn't long before everyone was out of bed and out into the corridor, they found Zelretch having an in-depth discussion with a painting around the corner about Arthurian legend if Harry was hearing them correctly. Shaking his head, he pulled on Zelretch's sleeve as he walked past him and after saying their farewells he caught up with the group as they began heading downstairs.

xxxxx

It was as they were passing a bathroom on the second floor, a girl's bathroom, that both Stheno and Euryale stopped. Looking curious at the two of them, Harry also tried to reach out with his senses to see what had caught their attention and he thought he'd found it.

Waver looked at the two Gorgon sisters who had stopped in the middle of the corridor and was about to ask what they'd noticed when he saw Harry freeze as well. Looking at Zelretch he saw nothing but slight amusement as if he knew what they'd noticed, he probably did, and Altrouge was simply standing there calmly, waiting for what was going to happen next. Len had perched herself on Harry's shoulder as a cat, something that had become common for them, apparently.

A rapid series of hisses between the trio soon had them thinking along the same lines, they had all caught the scent of snake despite how faint it was and the fact it was heavily saturated with prana made it something of a curiosity. This was somewhere that bore investigation and Harry would do so as soon as next year started seeing as they were all leaving tomorrow morning.

The group continued down to the Great Hall asking Harry questions about everything they passed and the people he knew. The former were easily answered while the latter was more difficult. Harry didn't really know how he viewed people at Hogwarts, he didn't much care for the general populace, the study group that he'd been a part of was more like 'people I speak to more than average' and Tracey was barely a step above that. Harry called Hermione and Neville friends but Hermione's constant need to know everything ticked him off and he simply blocked her off, especially when her questions got rather invasive. Neville was probably a good guy underneath it all but Harry had had to put a lot of effort in to get him this far and his constant need for acceptance drove Harry spare sometimes. All in all, Harry realised that he didn't have anyone he'd consider particularly close at Hogwarts and if it wasn't for his weekend visits home he probably would have closed himself up completely.

Down in the Great Hall it was still pretty empty because of how early it was, Hermione was there though and so was Neville, and everyone looked up as Harry and his family entered before taking a seat at the Hufflepuff table. Harry reached over to one of the platters and snagged some bacon before adding eggs and rice to his plate, a little odd but he liked it. The others also reached out for whatever took their fancy and the quiet that had descended when they entered slowly began to leave, Len was back in her cat form and Harry fed her as was usual.

A few bites into the meal, Harry looked up at his two closest acquaintances of relatively similar age. Neville looked a little nervous as he kept looking at Zelretch's and Altrouge's red eyes, Harry sighed, that ridiculous superstition about red eyes meaning evil was irritating him again. Hermione was also looking at them but her gaze kept flickering between himself and the two Gorgon sisters, she was probably making note of the similarities between us and had them marked as immediate family, it was probably their physical ages that had her confused as she'd heard Harry speak of these two as filling the maternal role despite him referring to them as sisters yet they looked no older than twenty. Harry could see it in her eyes and had already put a mental bet down on when she was going to explode and start asking questions. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

"What are you?" Suddenly burst from between her lips. Harry slowly placed his knife and fork down to either side of his plate, all those who knew him also knew that this was a bad sign, before slowly turning towards the bushy-haired girl and saying.

"They are my family and I would appreciate it if you did not demand any more answers, answers that you have no right to. This is Stheno and this is Euryale." Harry indicated each of the sisters in turn. "They are far older than their appearance may lead you to believe but they can also act rather childish at times, especially Euryale." Harry muttered the last bit before turning to the others. "This is Waver Velvet and this is Kischur Zelretch Shweinorg but everyone calls him Zel or Zelretch" Harry once again indicated each person as he introduced them. "Finally, this is one of my closest friends, Altrouge Brunestud. I've known her for a few years now and we met in Germany. That is all you need to know so I'll thank you to keep your trap shut." Harry may have been a bit hard on her there but the way she'd asked her question infuriated him. She'd asked 'what' are you? and not 'Who' are you? It was if she didn't see them as people or at least that is how Harry interpreted such a question.

Looking a little cowed, Hermione went back to her breakfast and it was Neville who spoke up next. "I am all for respecting a person's privacy but you do know what red eyes means in the wizarding world, right?" he asked Harry nervously.

Sighing Harry answered the boy. "A wizarding superstition is that evil people have red eyes and that is completely inaccurate and pure symbolism than anything else. Altrouge and Zelretch both have red eyes and you're instantly alert but what if I told you that my eyes are also mostly red?"

Neville looked down for a moment before returning Harry's gaze despite the blindfold in the way. "You're right Harry, it shouldn't make a difference and I will get to know people before judging them." He turned to the two apostles. "I'm sorry for showing such fear of the two of you."

Altrouge and Zelretch both chuckled before looking at each other for a moment. "Before I met Harry, you would have had cause to fear me. I am known as the Eclipse Princess of Black Blood as well as the Lord of Blood and Contract, both names that I have earned. If I had never met Harry then this hall would already be coated in your blood but I did and it isn't so don't worry." It was Altrouge who replied to Neville but Gramps added his own bit.

"You are a powerful wizard Neville Longbottom, I hope you've kept my grandson out of as much trouble as possible though I doubt anyone is fully capable of that." Harry cocked his head to one side, how would Zelretch know Neville was powerful? Then it clicked, he'd been looking at alternate versions of this reality, perhaps Zelretch's comment about snakes earlier had meant something important. Harry made a mental note to study as much as he could about magical serpents as soon as he could, if not because of what Gramps had said then because of whatever was near that girl's bathroom.

xxxxx

The rest of the day passed fairly pleasantly, Harry introduced his family to those he was acquainted with and, since Harry's red eyes prank, he got less hassle than he thought he would have. Weasel looked like he was going to try something but on meeting Altrouge's eyes he backed down before anything happened. One major problem that he had to deal with was in regards to boys and the Gorgon sisters. Because of their beauty there were a number of older boys staring at them with lust-filled gazes, something that made Harry want to start removing limbs from the offenders. While they had no allure like veela did, they were far more physically attractive than regular people but that's just something they've always had. Harry wondered how people would react if they found out that they were lusting after two women who were thousands of years old or the fact that they were two of the Gorgon sisters from Greek mythology.

Several professors were also introduced to his family, Mcgonagall seemed to have found a friend in Waver as the two discussed transfiguration in terms of physics for almost an hour, everyone else left them to it. Professor Snape was cordial to them all and mentioned how he was now using Harry's reaction tables in his classes and how fewer accidents there were now, Zelretch got into an in-depth discussion with the arithmancy professor, Septima Vector, who seemed surprised by the man's knowledge of complex theories and their uses, Harry wasn't surprised seeing as how the Kaleidoscope utilised such things but she didn't know that.

All told, it was a wonderful way to spend his last day at Hogwarts and Harry planned to introduce everyone to Elestia that evening, that was not to last however as that afternoon Harry received a note saying the headmaster wished to see him, looking at everyone with him he told everyone what the note said and they all decided to accompany him to see the twinkle-eyed old coot.

xxxxx

"Ah, hello Harry," Dumbledore smiled warmly at him but that faltered somewhat when everyone else came into the room. "and the rest of you." Harry simply nodded back before standing before the headmaster's desk with Stheno and Euryale either side of him.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, may I ask why I've been called here?" Harry asked.

"Well my boy, I have some questions about your current guardians. The thing is, I can't find any record of them in any genealogies that I have been able to acquire so may I ask about your origins?" Harry narrowed his eyes at that, genealogies were thick and contained many names, far too many to look at in a single day.

"Can I ask why you ask such a thing, headmaster?" Harry enquired with a light voice.

"It is just rather odd for an old family to not be recorded in them, any family older than five generations would be and the way you speak tells me that they aren't muggle-borns which makes there seem to be inconsistencies. There is also how your appearance differs from when I last saw you, you weren't so pale nor had you any purple in your hair as you so obviously do now." Well that could be answered easily enough with two pieces of information and he wouldn't even have to lie.

"Waver Velvet, my current godfather is third generation so you will not find his family in such a book, that should answer that inconsistency. I am also a partial metamorphmagus, as you can see I can manipulate my hair." Harry did so by letting his hair flare out from him and move independently. "I am also rather close to Stheno and Euryale so that should answer that." While true, that statement would lead Dumbledore to think he was using his metamorphmagus ability to emulate the two of them and Harry saw no need to tell him that his metamorph abilities weren't capable of that.

Here Stheno spoke up "Euryale and myself are both without a surname. We have no parent to name and, apart from being Greek, there is little that we can tell you that you aren't capable of finding out yourself." Dumbledore seemed to be eyeing her warily, he obviously remembered what had happened in the hospital wing and wasn't eager to anger her again in a hurry.

Zelretch was next to offer his bit. "I am rather isolated from the magical community and, apart from the past years raising Harry, I had a tendency to travel far and wide so I doubt that I am in that genealogy that you spoke of." Also true but he didn't define how far and wide he travelled, Dumbledore was likely to think around the world than between dimensions.

Harry was amused, they'd answered Dumbledore's questions and completely avoided giving him any pertinent information without once lying. "Is there anything else, headmaster?"

"Just one thing Harry, we don't have a record of your address. Where do you live?" Dumbledore asked and Harry was the one who answered this time.

"My family and I live within the clock tower that can be found in London. Gramps has set up a transfer box for us at Gringotts so all mail addressed to us will get there, we had a problem with owl mail not being able to reach us but that has been fixed now even if we aren't particularly fond of owls." That was an understatement considering that owls are the symbol of Athena, the greek goddess who turned people against the Gorgons out of jealousy.

"Now, may we leave?" Harry asked again and Dumbledore dismissed them having nothing else to ask.

xxxxx

The rest of the school hadn't had such a calm day. When Harry Potter had turned up with those five there had been mixed reactions, they well remembered when everyone had had red eyes of their own so they got over that far quicker than they would have otherwise, they could have been using colour-change charms themselves after all.

It was the two beauties that really caught everyone's attention. No one missed the similarities they shared with Harry, they were pale but no where near as pale as he was, they had purple hair like the streaks in his, they had purple eyes and no one knew what colour Harry's were because of that blindfold he always wore. It was the lengthened canines that everyone noticed as it wasn't just Harry and the two purple-haired girls that had them but everyone that had come with him.

On seeing the two girls, Ron Weasley had thought that they were veela but veela were supposed to have primarily blonde hair with some being raven dark or lustrous red. Natural purple hair was something even the wizarding world didn't have outside of metamorphmagi, they did occasionally get people with blue-tinted hair when magic came to the baby while it was still in the womb causing weird effects like that. He had stood up to speak out at them but the look in the red eyes of that black-haired girl had him retaking his seat, he didn't know about the others but for some reason that girl scared him greatly, the cat also seemed to be staring at him and that freaked him out too.

Draco Malfoy had been up in arms over Saint Pothead bringing more freaks like him into the castle but even he had to admit that those two women were beautiful, the raven-haired girl was too but something about here spoke to his survival instincts, what there was of them, and he didn't say anything. Draco then had a thought, it would be ever such a shame, not to mention degrading for Potter, if those girls ended up in mistress contracts for a pureblood. They couldn't be wives as they were obviously not of best breeding stock but that didn't stop them becoming play-things, he would speak to his father about this.

Tracey Davis remembered when Harry Potter had found her crying before and looked at those he called family, they seemed pleasant enough and glancing towards the head table she could see Dumbledore looking a little strained as if one of his lemon didn't have enough sugar on it, he also seemed to be keeping a careful eye on one of the purple-haired girls. She'd talked with Harry a few times since the study sessions started and recalled when she'd asked him what he would prefer to be known as if he despised the title of the boy-who-lived so much. She hadn't expected him to laugh and tell her that he was far more comfortable being called a monster than a saviour, she'd asked him what he meant and he told her that all of his family bar one could be considered a monster and if he was fine with them then why wouldn't he be fine bearing that label too? Looking at those that had come with him, she guessed that the one Harry was calling Waver Velvet was the exception to the monster label. The two girls were simply different and Dumbledore was wary of at least one of them, the older man seemed far too cheerful and mischievous right now and the younger girl gave the impression that it would be a bad idea to piss her off. That girl, Altrouge, only seemed to smile at the people in Harry's group and Harry himself seemed to receive the lion's share of them, she pretty much ignored everyone else. Waver was the only one that didn't have an unusual eye colour, his were dark green, and he wore some kind of red over-coat on top of a muggle suit. The redo coat seemed important to him as he handled it carefully, looking at it with nostalgia.

Hermione Granger was getting incredibly frustrated, Harry's family had been right in front of her and she didn't learn anything about them! The purple hair which obviously couldn't be natural was and the red eyed two were obviously not normal but, because of the way she'd asked about it, she'd been shot down by Harry again. She understood that asking them what they are came across as rude but they obviously weren't human so it should have been a valid question. She'd spent the day looking up what they could possibly be but the library didn't seem to have any books that included them. Oh, there were books on beings, a step above beasts in the magical hierarchy, but no where did it mention anything like those two. The other two seemed to be vampires but that was impossible, all the books she read had agreed that vampires were vulnerable to sunlight and they had been out by the lake for part of their day, though the two red eyed ones did avoid the water somewhat. She couldn't think of what else to do, she'd tried asking but had been blocked by Harry and the library had nothing on beautiful women with purple hair and eyes, the closest she could get were veela but even they didn't match up. Hermione's one flaw was a desire to know everything she could and she took this to an extreme, having no friends as a child or other influence to hold her back or distract her had led to her developing such a habit and this one would be hard to break, the problem being that she didn't want to break it nor did she see a reason to.

Minerva Mcgonagall found her distrust of Harry Potter lessening, she'd spoken at length with that man, Waver Velvet was his name, about how muggle concepts applied to transfiguration and they'd eventually gotten around to discussing Harry as well. When she'd told him about the boy's world view he had sighed and told her that the relatives he'd been with before them had been abusive towards him, she had told Albus that the Dursleys were the worst sort, and he hadn't had a world view of any sort then. He had grown up with them and they had taught him what they could but had never forced an ideal or a philosophy on him, he'd developed his own. She heard how he had devoured any book he could get his hands on and how he tried as hard as he could to learn something new, how close he had gotten with them and especially the purple-haired sisters. She heard how he had come to develop his philosophy, he would help people if he was nearby and do all he could but that was just for innocents, for those he viewed as guilty he wouldn't do a thing. It was when it came to those who had committed certain crimes that Harry viewed death as an acceptable option, crimes such as murder, rape, wilful harm of a minor, serious abuse and other such things, he also would defend his family to the end and one way to rile him up was to insult his friends or family as he viewed himself as a monster and wouldn't react much to insults directed at him. She decided that she might have been overly critical of the boy when she'd first met him and had held onto that throughout the year, she'd been expecting a mini James Potter with Lily's eyes, she'd expected a prankster or an avid learner. She had gotten something completely different and that had thrown her off track, she would look at Harry with fresh eyes now and not ones tinted by memories of his parents, it had become more than obvious that he was neither of them.

Septima Vector was thinking about the student that all of the professors, even Snape, had said only positive things about in staff meetings. She had spent some time that day speaking to the one that Harry called Gramps and everyone else called Zelretch, she had been amazed at how easy it was to talk with him about the most advanced magical equations she could think of and when he had mentioned the similarity they held to muggle maths and science she became one pureblood who was determined to find out more. Zelretch had told her that, due to some of the magic Harry had learned at home and his partially muggle upbringing, he was also well informed on such subjects and that made her hope that the odd boy would choose her subject when the time came for him to choose his electives.

xxxxx

Later that evening, after supper was done with, Harry led his family out of Hogwarts and towards the forbidden forest. Everyone was curious about the place as there weren't that many magical species left in their world and a chance to see more was always welcome, that Harry had befriended a spirit that represented the forest's consciousness was also something in and of itself.

Walking carefully in to the forest and leaving the open grounds behind Harry warned them about the centaurs in the forest. "Elestia, that's the forest's consciousness doesn't like them here because they essentially claimed it for themselves. There is also the fact that centaurs and humans have not gotten along for almost two millennia now and they are as bigoted against humans as purebloods are against them. There is one centaur, Firenze, who I get along with but he is viewed as odd and a radical by the rest of his herd."

It was Waver who spoke up "So, we aren't likely to run into any Chirons here, are we?" Harry chuckled at that, he couldn't imagine the likes of Bane teaching humans to be warriors.

"No, that's not going to happen here." They continued walking, speaking in hushed voices as they traversed deeper and deeper into the forest with Elestia guiding Harry away from any centaurs in their path. It was avoiding the centaurs that led them close to the acromantula nest.

"Harry," Waver whispered. "Please don't tell me that is normal for spiders in this world." Harry looked where he was indicating and saw a baby acromantula, no larger than a dinner plate.

"That's an acromantula, not a spider. They originate from Borneo and are believed to be bred by wizards to guard specific locations, they are one of the reasons that experimental breeding was banned. Elestia doesn't like them and I'm thinking that they'll make good opponents next year when I need to train, having a heroic spirit with me will help. Oh, that's a baby by the way, the adults can reach sizes anywhere up to a small cottage but they are more likely to die before then, old age isn't something they tend to worry about." Everyone looked at the spider that had would have its body hanging off the edges of a dinner plate and none of them wished to see an adult one, especially if it was in its old age.

Skirting the acromantula colony, they soon reached where the unicorns had been staying, a few of them still remained here and looked up when Harry and his family wandered into their grove. Feeling completely at ease here, Harry wandered up to a young foal, the young were easy to notice as their coat was golden coloured and not white. The foal, noticing it was Harry, sprang to its feet and began to circle him playfully, Harry had come to enjoy his time playing with the young unicorns and they had brought out his more playful side.

Watching Harry playing with a half dozen golden unicorns brought a smile to the faces of those watching it, Stheno and Euryale soon found themselves brushing the coat of an older female and Waver was dragged into the foals' games before long. Zelretch and Altrouge watched this and couldn't help but feel at peace amongst these pure creatures.

A tug at Altrouge's dress pulled her back to reality and she blinked her crimson eyes down at the foal that was in front of her. Looking up, she found that Harry and Waver were looking at her with smiles of their own and the foals around them were also looking at her. "Oh, what the hell." She said and soon all of them were playing like little children.

Zelretch sat beside Stheno as Euryale kept stroking the mane and coat of the female that lay beside her. "To think, Harry who considers himself a monster, and Altrouge, who is considered the same by an entire world, can so easily integrate themselves into a group of creatures renowned for their purity and distaste for darkness. It makes me wonder how light and dark are defined and how they really should be defined. It is a most interesting scene, is it not?"

Stheno smiled and said "It truly is a wonder, I only wish I had a camera with me right now." Zelretch chuckled before focusing the kaleidoscope in his hands and the camera that had taken so many pictures at Harry's birthday the previous year appeared in them. He handed the camera to Stheno who wasted no time in turning it on and snapping a few pictures of what she was seeing.

"I wonder how Waver's students would react to seeing their teacher playing with baby unicorns." The smile on her face was definitely amused but Zelretch also had to add "I wonder how the other dead apostle ancestors would react to their princess playing with cute little creatures."

The two looked at one another before a chuckle from Stheno set them off and they let out wild, unrestrained laughter that echoed all around the clearing. Harry, Waver and Altrouge looked back at them, the latter two in confusion.

"I wonder what's got into them?" Waver questioned aloud. Harry just smirked, he'd caught sight of the camera that Stheno had hidden behind her back and could guess what those two found amusing.

"Oh, I imagine it's nothing. Shall we head off to see Elestia?" Harry asked. Everyone agreed with the plan and they left the grove with the unicorns behind.

It was as they were walking towards the forest's centre that Harry heard a familiar bark. Spinning around with a grin on his face, Harry was bowled to the floor by the gytrash that had become a companion whenever he was in the forest. Everyone jumped a bit and went forwards when Harry was knocked to the ground but his laughter stopped them in their tracks.

This was something that they hadn't expected and Harry took pleasure introducing them to the spectral hound. When they found out about that and went to touch him they were surprised when their hands went right through him whereas Harry was above to stroke his fur as if he were solid, this was really funny when Euryale had went to stroke him and had fallen right through before Harry caught her.

Zelretch said he should think up a name for him and Harry decided that skýlos was as good a name as any, it was Greek for dog and he wasn't the most imaginative person when it came to names, skýlos seemed to like it anyway. Winding his way around their feet as they walked towards where Elestia was, he acted like the family pet out for a walk, bounding forwards to sniff at a tree trunk and back again to see everyone following before then chasing after something he'd seen in the forest barking all the way.

xxxxx

It was about ten minutes after meeting the newly named skýlos that everyone entered the clearing where Harry had first met Elestia. The clearing was just the same as it was the last couple of times Harry had been there, thick, visible roots ran across the ground towards the centre where they rose from the ground and formed an archway about twice his own height. As before, the archway was so dark that no one could see anything on the other side but prana was heavy in the air, Harry wondered how close they were to wherever the leylines converged and if they converged directly below where the archway stood.

"It is a new experience for me to meet such a variety of beings." Waver jumped as Elestia stepped out of the dark archway looking as she had done before, ancient and powerful, young and gentle. It was confusing seeing someone embody so many contradictions yet make it seem so natural, the old oak and the young bud existing side by side with each other.

They stayed there and talked with Elestia for several hours, she seemed to get along best with Stheno and Euryale and she claimed that 'they know of the nature of life, predator and prey. Their influence is obvious in Harry', Harry just thought that their time alone on the shapeless isle meant that they could understand nature, and thus her, better.

They were about to leave when she reached out for Harry, he stopped as he felt the hand on his shoulder, it was colder than a human hand and felt rather like a smoothed and worn branch, like a wooden puppet or the like.

"I have a request of you, will you listen?" Harry turned towards her and nodded his inclination to hear her out.

"The castle has had the local leylines feeding it for slightly over a thousand years now and the castle grew because of it. One of the early headmasters cut off his connection with her and her lonely cry echoes throughout the land. You and I have our pact and I would ask that you speak to her as well, I believe it would do her good." Harry blinked for a moment before replying.

"I am about to leave Hogwarts for the summer but when I return I would be glad to seek her out. Do you know where her core resides? Like your power is concentrated in the centre of the forest, I imagine there is somewhere that she thinks of as her centre." Harry looked up at Elestia and saw her look off into the distance where Harry knew the castle lay.

"I cannot say where exactly it may be found but I remember a large rock covered in old writing being placed beneath the ground. I believe that you would refer to it as the central ward stone, that may be the best place to start your search and thank you, it will bring me peace to know the young one will no longer feel so lonely." Harry nodded his head as he thought about how to go about finding the central ward stone and how to access it, he knew it was beneath the Great Hall but that was a large area to work with. He could look at the shape of the wards and use arithmancy to work backwards but then he'd have to triangulate its location in a magically expanded space. Harry shook his head for a moment, he would work on the theory over the summer.

"You are most welcome but I will say that it is no chore and if you ever have a similar request again then ask me, I will guarantee that I will at least listen to it." Harry gave a short bow and thought about what he'd just said. He hadn't outright said he would do anything she asked of him, a very stupid idea when it came to greater beings, but he was completely fine with listening to what she had to say.

They left the forest and returned to the castle, Harry entering via an open window before opening the doors for everyone else, and they all went to bed for the night.

xxxxx

Harry got up as early as he always did the next morning and, after reading more of Salazar's journals, he headed out to do his exercises only to find that Altrouge was already there and it looked like she was waiting for him.

"We aren't allowed to take the train back to London with you so Zelretch will be taking us home before coming to the train station to collect you. Convoluted, I know, but he insisted on it. I thought you could use a sparring partner before Bazett beats you black and blue, I would also like to see these enchanted dummies you use as well." Harry grinned at her before projecting a sword for each of them.

Dumbledore was watching what Harry and his family would do while they were here and he was surprised when they had headed into the forest last night, it was a shame that he couldn't ask the centaurs what they had been up to in there but this morning he saw Harry head out to do his usual exercises only to meet up with that little girl called Altrouge, this was interesting as he wondered how they would practice together.

He hadn't expected the utter carnage that followed. As the two of them kicked off from their starting positions they left small craters behind and the strength they were swinging those swords left showed as the grass parted around them, in some cases the grass was actually torn from the earth! Looking closer, he would have seen the intense concentration on Harry's face as he put his all into the fight. He would never underestimate an opponent again, his mistakes with Quirrel were in the past and he refused to fail ever again.

xxxxx

On the returning train, Harry shared a compartment with Neville, Hermione, Susan and Hannah. He was looking down at the slip of parchment in his hand that told him that practising magic during the holidays forbidden and was smirking at it, there was no way that they'd be able to enforce that with him living in a separate dimension.

Harry was sat next to the window with a gap between him and the others in the compartment who were talking excitedly with each other. Harry frowned, he was trying to decide whether he should tell any of them about himself. He thought of Hermione and her incessant need to know every little thing that caught her attention, he really didn't want to pander to her desires so that was a no. Neville was becoming more and more confident but his shy nature peeked through still and Harry felt that Neville would need a few more years before he was told Harry's story if he ever was. Tracey was the only other person he was even remotely close to at Hogwarts, besides Len who was currently sat on his shoulder, but she was someone who would take every advantage she could get, she didn't trust easily and that made her cautious but that simply made her more unsuitable as a candidate for his secret.

Harry sighed as he looked at Len. "Guess it's just us two for now and whoever joins us for our next year." He whispered to the cat who rubbed up against his cheek.

There wasn't much that happened on the way back to the station, the trolley for candy came around and Harry had the idea of tying a notice-me-not charm into a bounded field that he focused on Ferret and Weasel before laying it over the door. He finished it just in time as he saw Ferret and the gorillas walk past the window of their compartment.

When they reached the station it was Harry and his family who first noticed each other, the vibrant hair colours helped, and this time Arcueid came while Altrouge was looking after the chimaera and Primate Murder. They greeted each other enthusiastically before Hermione's parents approached them and Neville's Gran, Augusta Longbottom.

They asked whether it was possible for them to visit Hermione over the holiday and vice versa, Neville answered in the positive for both but Harry didn't like the idea of Hermione running loose in the clock tower. Harry didn't mind her visiting him but she was likely to ask the magi something either too personal or she would end up slipping and revealing herself as using an alternate form of magic from another dimension, the first would have Harry needing to keep an extra eye on her but the latter could have far more unpleasant results considering what the clock tower was like. Harry got away with accidental magic before as he was with Zelretch and, when he'd started using his circuits, he found he could keep it under control. He agreed to visiting her but told her that there were reasons that made visiting him problematic, they gave him their address and Harry said that he would visit next weekend before they left.

"Well then, let's go home." Harry smiled at everyone and Zelretch chuckled as he said "Your dealing with the kitchen, Arcueid tried to cook." Harry's frozen expression was the last that was seen from him as they all returned back to the clock tower.


	18. Summer Starts

AN: This chapter feels like it's mostly filler to me. I don't have much to say other than that the end is supposed to be foreshadowing if anyone can guess what's going on, I think I made it rather obvious. More background for Hermione this chapter and Neville is there too even if he isn't really getting much development right now. Harry gets some info and stuff which will prove important in future chapters and reasons some things out so I hope this chapter is well received. As usual, the forum can be found either on my profile or here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 18 – Summer Starts

An alarm was blaring away somewhere above Stheno's head but it was soon cut off as a hand came down on it. Blearily she blinked awake to find Euryale next to her, still asleep, and Harry stood over her with his hand on the alarm's off button.

"Sleep well?" He asked and she yawned as she nodded at him with a smile on her face. Waking up with Harry had been a pleasant experience for both her and her sister the last few years, that he now woke before them and prepared breakfast was something else. Stheno's life had changed drastically since a small, abused black-haired boy had appeared on the Shapeless Isle before her and Euryale. She had simply existed before, living each day as it came but now she was living amongst humans and working as a history teacher of all things. The massive changes that had happened while the two of them had been isolated were massive but she loved it all, these days she was free and beholden to none but those she chose to be.

Smiling as the memories of the last seven years washed over her, Stheno untangled herself from Euryale and got out of bed to get washed. She padded into the kitchen wearing nothing but a silk nightgown, something she'd grown rather comfortable in, to find four breakfasts set out at the table. Since bonding as his familiar, Len was a constant sight wherever Harry was, as a cat or as a young girl. Stheno had wondered whether Len harboured a crush on her little brother but that wasn't her business either way, Harry's love life was just that, Harry's. She sat down at the table and looked towards the fridge where Harry was pouring drinks for everyone, Euryale would be up and about as soon as the smell reached their room, she was rather fond of Harry's cooking, and Len was sat on his shoulder as was becoming a common sight.

Soon enough, the smell of a Harry prepared breakfast proved a greater temptation that staying in bed and Euryale stumbled sleepily into the room before seating herself beside Stheno. Harry chuckled before putting the drinks out on the table before each of the place settings. Len jumped from his shoulders and assumed her human form as she sat at the table waiting for him to sit.

"Thanks Harry" the Gorgon sisters said as they dug in and Len nodded her head, they'd easily gotten used to the silent girl and her ways, before she started eating too. It was a 'proper' English breakfast and everyone was happy for it, Stheno and Euryale were always glad to try different foods since they'd lived off fish and vegetables for so long, and Len definitely loved whatever Harry made since she was the one who ate the most snacks when Harry baked.

"So," Euryale said when she'd cleaned her plate and was actually awake, "What plans do you have for the holidays?" Harry looked up from his plate and answered her.

"For one, I'm looking at how bounded fields relate to Reality Marbles, I think I mentioned my theory about mindscapes to you, and I'm also going to research magical serpents due to something Zelretch said that has me cautious about my next year at Hogwarts." Stheno scowled at that, he was supposed to go to school to learn and not deal with manipulative headmasters and possessed teachers.

"I heard from Bazett that you brought your animated dummies to your sparring sessions with you." Stheno paid more attention to the conversation as Euryale started asking him about his training dummies.

"Yes, I did. The enforcers were smirking at them when I brought them and Bazett looked at me like I was crazy, that was before I activated them of course." A grin could be seen on Harry's face. "I left half a dozen of them there and kept the others with me, they seem to have become rather popular." Stheno could bet they would, she wouldn't be surprised if one of them approached Harry with a deal to make more to train the enforcers with.

"Well, you're summoning your servant soon, are you excited for that?" A conflicted look flickered across Harry's face before he answered.

"I don't know. Whoever I summon will be a match for me as I won't be using a catalyst but for some reason I have an uneasy feeling about it all, something will go wrong, I just know it." Stheno smiled before giving her own input.

"You'll do fine, it's just nerves. I am rather curious what sort of individual you will summon as well as how you will hold up due to your element and origin. Knowing you, you'll summon a female of some description and it won't be long before you end up tangled up with her in some compromising position." She almost laughed at his pout. It was true, she was surprised there were no such incidents at Hogwarts seeing how many times that Harry ended up in rather ridiculous positions with various girls, even the queen of the clock tower wasn't immune to them. Stheno had to restrain a laugh at that last one, somehow she had walked into a room to find Lorelei and Harry tightly bound together with Lorelei's whip while they were struggling to undo it and no explanation had ever been given for it.

"Well, whatever you do, it's Saturday tomorrow. You're visiting that Hermione girl aren't you?" Stheno saw Harry grimace slightly and decided to find out what that was about.

"She is your friend, isn't she?" She asked, she wouldn't have anyone take advantage of her little brother, he was family and family was important to the Gorgons.

"She is one of the people who I have most contact with at Hogwarts." Stheno's silence forced him to elaborate. "She used to have an absolute worship of authority figures but that's gone now. One thing that I can't seem to change about her is her rabid desire to know everything, she's become fixated on 'figuring me out' and is becoming more and more irritating as she can't find anything. You know about the ridiculous stories that the wizarding world wrote about me and she believed them until I told her, in no uncertain terms, that they were fiction. Telling her to cross-reference her history book probably set her on this path but now she seems to be trying to dig up anything she can on me. Don't get me wrong, she's a good person but she does need to learn self-restraint." They all nodded at that and Harry put a small smile on his face.

"I'm also going to look into why electronics don't work at Hogwarts and ways around that. If Zelretch messes with a mobile phone then I'll be able to contact you lot without sending an owl to London every time." Euryale smiled at that and asked if he had any theories on that subject. "Actually, I do. Polysilicon is the electronic conductive part of silicone microchips. The thing is, polysilicon is also a damn good conductor of magic too. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, it only becomes an issue when it tries to conduct both electricity and magic at the same time and that is what I think causes technology to fail in highly saturated magical areas when exposed to it for prolonged periods of time. There are runic arrays that gather ambient magic from the air in preparation to channel them into wards that already exist, if I could find some way to convert magic into electricity without frying the circuitry then I could have a mobile phone that charges itself off of ambient magic." Stheno looked towards Euryale to find a vacant look in her eyes, truth be told she didn't understand much of what he had said but had paid attention nevertheless.

"I think that you've frazzled whatever brain Euryale may have with that." An indignant 'Oi!' made everyone laugh there and Harry shook his head as he started collecting the dishes. Stheno sat back in her chair and smiled, she truly enjoyed her current circumstances and, to her and she was sure Euryale felt the same way, Harry truly was family with or without the blood adoption. Her expression darkened as she thought back to when she'd pinned the 'old coot' as christened him against the wall and thought that she'd let him off far too easy. She came out of her thoughts when her sister shook her and looked to the easy smile that adorned her face, she smiled back as she remembered how well Euryale knew her, with several thousand years of each other's company they really should.

xxxxx

"Are you sure you wish to see this?" Waver asked Harry for the third time. The young boy had asked for Waver's memories of the fourth Grail War, he was going to summon a heroic spirit and wanted as complete an understanding of them as possible, Waver's memories were the best that he could get a hold of.

"I'm sure." Harry nodded and Waver sighed in exasperation, it wasn't that he thought Harry couldn't deal with it, if any kid could then it'd be him, but his memories couldn't be separated out too easily or too quickly so he'd have to dump all of the memories from that time into the boy's head and that would take time to sort through, giving him a massive headache in the process.

Waver sighed. "Very well then." He stepped up to Harry and the two of them were stood in a formalcraft circle to facilitate the ease of transference. Taking a breath, Waver began to transfer his memories across to Harry of everything regarding the grail war and what he'd seen.

The process took several minutes and, for some reason, Waver couldn't help but feel that he was looking deep into some dark, foreboding forest. Once it was done both of them staggered backwards, Waver had a final fleeting image of a red lake before his sight settled back onto what was normal while Harry had felt Waver in his mind and allowed him to pass his defences, leading him right to where his memories were.

Waver looked to Harry, he seemed to be recovering faster than Waver himself was. "You okay?" he asked and Harry nodded before standing still for a moment before saying.

"I think so. My occlumency seems to be processing the memories at an accelerated rate and my memory partitions and thought acceleration skills doesn't seem to be hindering that in the slightest, quite the opposite in fact." Waver shook his head, he'd forgotten what mental techniques Harry had available to him.

"Fair enough, just let me get some rest before you start badgering me with questions." Harry smiled at him as he said that and nodded his head before giving him a hug in thanks.

"Very well. Just know that you can't escape me forever." They both chuckled at that as they left the room and headed their separate ways, Waver to teach and Harry to sort through the memories before he went to see Hermione tomorrow.

xxxxx

It was Saturday and Harry was sat at a table in the Leaky Cauldron, waiting for Neville to floo in before they took the Knight Bus to Hermione's home. He was rather curious about the bushy-haired brunette, she was an incredibly intelligent person but that was coupled with a lack of social skills that prevented her socialising with her peers too easily.

Harry looked up from his drink as the fireplace flared green but looked down again as an elderly woman stepped out before using some kind of cleaning charm on herself as she headed towards Diagon Alley. Harry had gotten a few odd looks but was thankful that his appearance wasn't common knowledge yet as he didn't want to be accosted like a celebrity would have been.

The memories of the fourth Grail War were still fresh in his mind, he'd been sorting through them and analysing each servant as they were encountered. He now had a great respect for Alexander the great, the rider class servant that Waver had summoned and the others seemed to be made of nothing but strength and skill.

Berserker had wielded anything he could get his hands on with all the ferocity of a wild beast yet each strike had been far more precise than his madness would suggest. Archer, the golden king, Gilgamesh of Uruk, that was someone with a presence that demanded attention. Harry didn't know what to think of Gilgamesh, he was the first king and therefore his arrogance was somewhat justified but it did grate on him as well. He decided that he could respect the king of heroes for his more admirable qualities if nothing else, respect him but not like him as such.

Assassin had been squished like a bug by rider when the two had encountered each other but, then again, they weren't really meant to fight against servants but masters. The ability to split into a number of separate bodies was an unusual and curious skill that would put some people off balance.

Caster was simply a monster, neither Waver nor Rider really interacted much with that one but they certainly found out about the results. The dead children, the sea monsters and that ridiculous monster that he brought forth were things that had Harry growling in anger, children that young shouldn't have been dragged into that and, while Harry thought of himself as a monster, that Cthullu like _thing _had no sense of right and wrong, no conscience to guide it and should never have been brought forth.

Lancer had been honourable, unlike his master, and Harry felt somewhat sorry for him, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. The spear-man and his master were poorly suited to each other and highlighted why using a catalyst to summon a servant didn't necessarily improve your combat capability.

Saber had been a surprise. To think, King Arthur was a woman, that had been unexpected but Harry supposed that he should have been more accepting of it seeing how different the legend of the Gorgons was to the reality of it. He didn't like her, she was naïve and, if she actually achieved her wish, would rewrite history to suit herself. Harry thought her wish to be rather selfish, she wouldn't just remove herself from the history books but all of her knights as well and all those who had been influenced by her stories since simply because she didn't like how it had turned out.

"Well Harry, are we going?" Harry looked up as he was broken out of his thoughts to see Neville stood next to him. Harry was glad that he'd given the boy some Jeans and a shirt, which he was currently wearing, as Wizards had some odd ideas about what muggles wear and he had seen Augusta Longbottom in a green dress with a vulture-topped hat.

"Sure thing Neville, let's go." Harry said as he stood up. Unlike Neville, Harry was dressed as he normally was in black trousers and shirt with matte black armour segments over the top and vambraces on his forearms. Len was laid across his shoulders there was a purple bow in the end of his hair, near the floor, to keep his hair tidy without using his metamorph abilities.

The two of them walked out of the Leaky Cauldron on the muggle side and started walking down the street, looking for a quiet place to summon the Knight Bus. They soon found a side street without anyone walking down it and Harry stuck out his arm as if he was hailing a cab.

He almost immediately jumped backwards, dragging Neville with him as a double-decker bus appeared almost on their heads. When the bus stopped, a young pimply wizard stepped off and said.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transportation for the stranded witch or wizard. I am your conductor for the day, Stan Shunpike" Harry just shook his head as they got on the bus and purchased tickets to Hermione's street.

Taking a seat in the front row of the bus, Harry looked towards Neville. "You ever ride this thing before?" Neville just shook his head.

"Gran's never taken me on it and I've never gone anywhere in the muggle world before but I've heard her muttering about it, I don't think she likes it much." Harry was about to reply when his words were forced back down his throat as the bus accelerated with a bang, throwing them back into their seats which skidded across the floor slightly.

Looking out the window showed that they were now on some country lane somewhere, obviously nowhere in London. Did this bus travel by means of spatial transportation? As he kept an eye out of the window they were soon 'jumping' into a variety of different environs that seemed to have no relation to each other, at one point they were somewhere in Ireland and next they'd jumped to the east coast of England before appearing twenty miles further south. Harry tried to think of some kind of arithmancy formula that would account for the seemingly random teleports but came up blank.

The other crazy thing was how everything moved out of the buses way, bollards and phone boxes alike moved aside whenever the bus mounted the curb, which happened with great regularity, and there was one point when a cottage actually moved to avoid the vehicle.

Harry was getting a headache and if he hadn't anchored his gravity to the bus rather than the earth he was sure he'd be rather nauseous by now. Looking at Neville showed that at least one of them was green, Harry hoped that Neville didn't suffer from motion sickness as that combined with the exceptionally badly driven teleporting bus was sure to make him throw up.

xxxxx

Getting off the bus when they reached Hermione's street was made more difficult by Harry having to support a staggering Neville who looked immensely thankful for the unmoving earth. Letting Neville collapse to all fours to regain his composure, Harry looked around them.

The street they were on was well kept and tidy, there was no rubbish or dog waste anywhere and it was rather clean. All the houses were detached and had a decent sized garden each, he supposed that with both her parents working in a profession such as dentistry allowed Hermione to be rather well off. Each home was different, not the boxes he vaguely remembered of Privet Drive.

They were about ten minutes away by car from a general shopping centre yet they also weren't far from open countryside so they had the best of both worlds, he wondered how far away their dental practise was. All in all, it was a rather nice place from what he could see.

Hauling Neville to his feet, the two of them set off towards number seven, Hermione's home. Harry was looking at each garden as they passed, they were rather colourful and diverse with pleasant scents that caused Harry's sensitive nose to twitch.

Arriving at number seven, they found a simple garden that was mostly grass but with a flower bed to each side of the path that had lavender, azaleas, poppies and camellias. It was a colourful display that drew attention to it without it being too high maintenance.

Harry knocked at the door and waited with Neville for someone to answer. Hearing someone approach the door, though the footsteps were rather soft, the boys made themselves look as presentable as possible. When the door opened to reveal a young girl, about nine or ten years of age, they were both surprised, Hermione had never mentioned having any siblings.

"Excuse me, is this the Granger residence?" Harry asked softly. The girl nodded and turned her head before calling over her shoulder.

"Mum! There are some strange boys here." Harry found that description rather amusing as Emma Granger came through a door and headed towards them with a smile on her face.

"Those are your sister's friends, Sarah. That is Harry and that is Neville." So the girl was called Sarah, Harry used a quick flash of structural analysis on her and found no magical core, that meant that she wasn't a witch.

"It's nice to meet you Sarah." Harry said and the girl looked up at him, taking in the purple hair, blindfold and the clothes he wore. She came to one unavoidable conclusion.

"You look weird." Emma and Neville nearly face-vaulted at that but Harry took it in stride, he agreed with her after all.

"That I do. Is your sister home?" Sarah nodded and then headed upstairs, probably to get Hermione, as Emma led the two of them into the front room.

"This is rather unusual, neither Hermione nor Sarah are particularly social and this is the first time that any boys have visited us. I hope that me and Dan can learn more about the magical world that our daughter has become a part of, it seems that we've only grown more distant since she now spends three quarters of a year away from home." Harry supposed that Emma's concern was valid, if it wasn't for him being able to go home every weekend and his family already being part of a magical world, even if it was a different magical world, then things would have been far more difficult, he could only imagine how hard it was for Hermione's parents who were thrown in the deep end when her Hogwarts letter turned up.

"Sure, I can only imagine how things look from where you stand." Harry told her. The three of them chatted for a few minutes about what subjects Hogwarts taught, how Hermione got along with her year mates in Hufflepuff, how she was in and out of lesson and other things like that. Harry had noticed the subtle probing into their own lives that Neville apparently missed but Harry deflecting those questions seemed to have caught Emma's attention.

They were interrupted when Hermione came into the room just as Emma was asking about their parents, a subject that neither boy wanted to discuss. Harry had noticed that Neville always spoke of his Gran when he mentioned his home life and never his parents while Harry himself was an orphan, as everyone in the magical world knew.

"Harry! Neville!" Hermione called to them, giving them the opening they needed to escape her mother. Standing up and walking towards the bushy-haired girl, Harry smiled.

"Hermione, it's good to see you. You sound surprised but didn't we already organise meeting up with you this weekend?" Neville got up too and greeted his fellow Gryffindor who seemed a little embarrassed at herself.

"I'm just not used to people actually coming over and I don't even know where you two live and..." Harry let her go on for a few minutes before putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Hermione, we're here now so there's no need to worry." She seemed to calm down somewhat at that and they were soon invited up to her room so they could talk.

Hermione's room was a good size with a bed in a corner next to a window, a wardrobe in an alcove and a set of drawers between them. What dominated the room though were the bookshelves that lined the wall to the left as you walk in. There where four shelves set at different heights that stretched from one end of the wall to the other and, looking at the titles, she preferred non-fiction books to stories although there were a number of classics such as 'The Lord of the Rings' and others in there too.

Neville had been awed by everything he'd seen so far, he'd been raised completely in the wizarding world and hadn't interacted with the muggle world at all. When he'd seen the TV in the Granger's front room and had it explained to him he was amazed by what they could do, that became even more pronounced when he realised it was a documentary on rockets and what it was showing was real and not a story. Now, in Hermione's room, he was a little more relaxed as the only technology in here was a lamp, alarm clock and CD player. He was more comfortable in these surroundings but that didn't diminish his curiosity about what muggles were actually capable of and he asked Hermione that very question.

What followed was about two hours worth of educating Neville in what muggles had achieved since the wizarding world had become completely separate several centuries ago.

xxxxx

At about half-past twelve Emma called them down for lunch so the three of them headed down to the kitchen where Sarah and Emma waited for them.

"Your Dad should be home in a minute." Emma said to Hermione. "There was a guy who works weekdays so we had a one off weekend appointment set up for him."

Hermione nodded and everyone sat at the square table that had one side against the wall, Harry and Neville at one side with Hermione and Sarah opposite them while Emma sat on the side facing the wall. There was a noise by the front door a moment later and Hermione's father, Dan, came in.

"Good timing dear, we were just about to eat." Emma said to her husband who grabbed the sixth plate and took a seat next to his wife.

"Good to be back Honey bit I don't remember having four kids." The smile on his face told everyone that he was trying to make a joke. "Hello there, Neville and Harry if I remember, right?"

The two boys in question nodded their heads at him before everyone started eating. It was a good meal, pizza and chips didn't seem like something dentists would eat often but when Harry asked he was told that as long as the girls brushed their teeth then they could eat junk food once in a while.

"Then again, I don't know what dental care is like in the wizarding world so I may have to check you two up." Dan said with a grin. Harry gave him a wide smile at that putting all of his teeth on display, they were white and sharp. The two dentists looked taken aback for a moment before Emma asked.

"Is it normal for a witches teeth to be as sharp as yours? They seem more like snake fangs than is normal." Harry chuckled and told her.

"I'm an abnormality so don't use me as a measuring stick in regards to the wizarding world. My naturally purple hair and need to wear a blindfold aren't things you'll find are normal there either." That seemed to ignite a curious spark in Emma's eye and Harry was beginning to realise where Hermione got it from.

"Excuse me but what's a dentist?" Everyone blinked at Neville's question, Harry had forgotten that the wizarding world didn't have them and none of the others knew they didn't to begin with.

"Muggle healers that specialise in teeth, Neville. Wizards have hygiene spells that renders them pretty useless, that's why you don't have an equivalent." Everyone nodded at that and went back to eating. Emma went back to asking Harry and Neville questions about the magical world although she kept shooting questioning glances at Harry after his comments regarding his blindfold and hair.

"It's Sarah's eleventh birthday soon and we're all wondering whether she's going to get a Hogwarts letter too. Does anyone know when we'd expect it with how close to next year her birthday is?" Emma asked and Harry snorted before answering.

"They need a reply by no later than July thirty-first but you don't need to worry about that, she's not a witch." Everyone went quiet and looked at Harry.

"What is it?" He asked. He looked around at the rest of the table but it was Sarah who asked the question.

"How do you know I'm not magical?" Harry was thankful that she didn't sound disappointed, it'd have been worse if she was looking forward to magic school and found out she was ineligible.

"Yeah Harry, how would you know? There are spells that can tell if a child is magical that all pureblood families know but muggle-borns only find out if they get a letter." This coming from Neville.

Harry shrugged. "Magic." He said and hoped they would move on from this particular topic soon.

"But the Ministry have sensors to detect under-age magic use and seeing as there aren't any owls flying his way means you can't have used magic." Harry sighed at this before explaining it.

"The Ministry can detect where magic is being used but not who uses it, if you live with a magical adult then you can do magic at home and no one will know. They can also only detect magic used with a wand or anything that emulates a wand so anyone can do potions or runes at home, subjects that don't use a wand. Muggle-borns or muggle raised are the only ones who ever get a warning so that law is a little unfair because of that." Harry looked around the table hoping everyone was appeased.

"So you used wandless magic? Why can't Hermione do something like that, we wanted to see what she's been doing at school but she showed us this piece of parchment saying she couldn't." Harry sighed again.

"Hermione can show you her magical theory notes and any notes she has on each subject, she can also brew he potions if you wanted to see that. As far as wandless magic goes, well, that's another oddity of me being me. Wandless magic is pretty much impossible for everyone apart from a few skills such as apparition, animagus transformations and legilimency. The reason I can do wandless magic is because I'm using a completely separate system than what Wizards use which is predominantly wandless." Harry looked at Emma and could already tell she wasn't finished with her questions.

"So my girl can't learn these skills at the school that she goes to? Why?" Harry decided that he would just answer this question and hope that her rabid questioning nature, so reminiscent of Hermione's during the school year, would abate.

"No one at Hogwarts or any other magical school would be able to teach her what I can do, the nature of the magic itself is very personal and based on each individual that uses it. There is also the fact that Hermione simply can't use such magic, that isn't a jab against her as Neville couldn't use it and, by all rights, I shouldn't be capable of it. I told Hermione before that being able to do it is a side effect of something that happened to me years ago and not something likely to happen ever again." Hermione pouted at this and looked rather put out that she couldn't do the things she'd seen Harry do.

Emma had one final question though. "What is it that makes you so different? Why are you the only one who can do it?" She seemed to be getting rather frustrated.

"That is something personal that happened when I was five and not something I really wish to discuss." Harry said plainly. He was glad when Emma didn't ask anything else about it and collected the plates for washing up.

xxxxx

Harry was glad when they decided to show Neville some movies as that allowed everyone to move on from what Harry had said at the dinner table. Neville was fascinated by the movies, they'd decided to watch all three of the star wars original trilogy, and Harry made sure to tell him that the movie was fiction before he started getting any ideas.

It proved to be an enjoyable experience despite Harry having seen far more star wars than currently existed, Zelretch had shown him the animated shows that existed in some future time lines and Harry had found himself watching them along with Stheno, Euryale and Waver every week.

Harry decided to relax as the afternoon wore on, no one noticed if his attention was elsewhere because the blindfold obscured his eyes and Harry sat there, stroking Len with one hand. He thought of what happened during his previous year at Hogwarts and, if that was how things started off, there was a good chance of the situation escalating in later years because he had the luck of a lancer.

Zelretch's comment at the end of the year had him looking up magical snakes and he was trying to get an idea of what he could have been on about, it would have to be something big and important for Zelretch to act that seriously so he doubted it had something to do with an ashwinder or a boomslang. A runespoor was also unlikely as they rarely grew very old due to their three heads arguing with each other and, regardless of that, wouldn't be very difficult to take care of.

The only two major serpents that Harry had come across in his readings had been sea serpents and basilisks, the former were rather harmless despite the reputation they had amongst muggles and England was quite a distance from the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Mediterranean where such creatures can be found. All that left, from what Harry had read, was the basilisk, the king of serpents as they were called, and Harry wondered why he would have anything to fear from one of them.

He wasn't being egotistical but because of his Gorgon nature their venom would hurt like a bitch but wouldn't do any major damage to him, his blindfold prevented him from receiving the full effects of their gaze with his own mystic eyes counteracting whatever managed to get past that and, on top of that, he was a parselmouth which meant he could talk to the overgrown garden snake. All the snakes that he had met had realised there was something off about him, something that they had a natural respect for and were quite willing to accommodate him and the only way to get around that was if they had a geass on them that would overrule that natural deference. Harry sighed, knowing his luck he would either encounter some kind of insane flesh-eating sea serpent or, more likely, some ancient basilisk that he couldn't handle too easily.

Harry was drawn out of his thoughts as the final movie ended and everyone decided that muggle board games were something that Neville should experience while he was here, Harry wondered what sort of stories the boy would be taking home to tell his Gran after today.

xxxxx

"Hehehehehe, looks like I'm winning." Harry chuckled during a game of monopoly, a game that he had absolutely dominated. Whatever games required calculated risks were ones where Harry had an advantage over his opponents, living in the clock tower and surrounded by magi had rubbed off on him a little. The best games for him were the card games because no could read his eyes as they were hidden behind his blindfold.

"Dammit, how are you so good?" Hermione huffed as she landed on one of his properties again, she hadn't been doing too well this game but that was mostly because of bad luck. Everyone in the room laughed at it, they'd all found themselves being out-done by Harry this game.

"I'm not amazing, just better than you." Harry chuckled at the glare Hermione levelled at him, Stheno's glare when she hadn't had enough sleep was far worse. The game went on and pretty soon Harry had completely bankrupted the other players while owning the majority of the board.

After that was over and done with, Emma decided that she would get started with supper and Len started to nudge Harry in the direction of the kitchen much to the amusement of everyone there.

"I think the kitty is trying to tell you something." Sarah says while wearing a grin to shame the Cheshire Cat. Hermione and Neville just shake their heads while Dan raises an eyebrow at it.

"That cat seems far too intelligent, is it a magical cat?" Hermione gave an amused smile and told him.

"Dad, there are magical cats, they're called kneazles." Dan looked surprised, he'd said it as a joke. He looked closer at Len who turned her red eyes on him.

Harry shook his head, he could feel the amusement coming from Len as she did everything Dan told her to, getting closer every time until he was right in front of her and she smacked him in the face with a paw, claws retracted of course.

"Len is intelligent but she's not a kneazle. I'm going to go and help Emma with the cooking if that's okay." Harry got up and wandered into the kitchen where he found Hermione's mother cooking a Sunday lunch type of meal.

"Need a hand?" She jumped as she whirled around to see Harry stood not three feet away from her, he had approached completely silently while she had been focused on food preparation.

"No, I'm fine. Did you want to help?" She asked curiously, it was odd to find a teenager in the kitchen that wasn't there to raid the fridge.

"Yes, or more like Len did. If you are occupied with the meal then I could prepare the dessert." Emma agreed to that, she was curious what this boy her elder daughter had befriended could do.

xxxxx

Delicious smells wafting from the kitchen was what led the occupants of the living room towards their evening meal. Waiting for them was quite the feast already on the table while Emma was giving Harry a disbelieving look while said boy was wearing a satisfied, if not smug, grin.

"Wow mum, you really knocked yourself out with this!" Sarah said as she attacked her food with all of the aggression of a rampaging T-Rex. Emma mumbled something under her breath while glaring at a certain blindfolded pre-teen.

"What did Harry do that's causing you to glare at him?" Hermione asked.

"I told him that as I was busy cooking the meal, he could take care of dessert. Well, he was done remarkably quickly and began helping me with the main meal. That would have been fine but then everything he did seemed to come out more and more perfect than anything I did until I ended up standing there and watching him. The problem is that I couldn't see him do anything to account for the difference and now I feel rather out-done as a wife." Harry chuckled as Emma continued to glare at him. Ah, the joys of reinforcing each ingredient as it was used to maximise the flavour and nutrients they contained.

"Well Harry, you'll make someone a fine wife someday, I suppose I'd best get in early if I want a piece. So, are you available?" It seemed Hermione's sister was a bit of a joker. In answer to the question Harry put his hand out, the engagement ring prominent on his finger. Hermione's eyes immediately widened in recognition.

"That's one of the bonding rings the old families use, isn't it?" Harry blinked behind his blindfold, he knew that Hermione was well-read but hadn't expected her to recognise the ring for what it was.

"Correct, though I do wonder how you recognised it." Hermione blushed at this point and murmured something under her breath. "What was that? I couldn't hear you." Hermione glared at him.

"You talk about your family but all the books say you're the last Potter. I looked up family trees which led to me reading inheritance laws when there was oddities turning up, that kind of led to me reading marriage laws and other things." She took another look at the ring on Harry's finger.

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting you to already be engaged." Hermione sounded rather off-balance. "Who's the lucky girl and when did it happen?"

"Altrouge and it's more convenience than anything else. With how famous I am in the magical world there are a lot of people who want to take advantage of my wealth and celebrity status, you wouldn't believe the number of marriage contracts that Gramps has turned away. Anyway, the engagement means that I can't be bound while it remains in effect, I'm using it to counter things such as betrothal rituals and other marriage bindings that can be applied forcefully. It doesn't hurt that Altrouge is one of my closest friends and someone I would trust with more than my life." The table quietened at that.

"Is it really that bad?" Dan asked, his brow scrunched in concern.

"With what happened when I was fifteen months old, the whole 'defeating' a dark lord thing, it ended a civil war that had stretched over a decade in the wizarding world and everyone celebrated the end of Voldemort. To make things clear, when Zelretch started looking at the contracts, I was five at the time, there were offers from women who were in their thirties and a substantial amount of them too. A betrothal ritual on the other hand is a bit of a misnomer, it's a charm with a long incantation that forces two people to marry if both are unattached, it can only be cast by a powerful wizard however and both targets must remain immobile while it is cast." Harry explained to his audience.

xxxxx

Things had gotten a little uncomfortable after Harry had spoke about marriage contracts and betrothal rituals, Neville had confirmed it but also mentioned that very few wizards would be powerful enough to perform the betrothal ritual. It wasn't long before both of them decided to leave.

"I really don't want to get on the Knight Bus again." Neville mumbled and harry fervently agreed, that was one form of transportation that he was going to avoid whenever possible.

"Well, now that I know where this place is, I can come back here whenever." Looking back to the Grangers Harry said. "Is there some other day that you would like to meet up?"

They eventually decided that Harry and Neville would visit again next Saturday and the week after Harry and Hermione would visit Neville at Longbottom Manor.

"I guess this is farewell then." Neville said as he hugged Hermione while Harry hugged Sarah, they switched and then moved onto the adult Grangers, giving Emma a hug and Dan a handshake.

"I really don't want to go via the Knight Bus, hold on Neville." Harry said and everyone looked curiously at him. Poor Neville only had time to say "Wha-" before they disappeared from view.

Sarah blinked "That was rather cool." She looked at her sister who was muttering about illegal apparition under her breath and decided against asking about it.

xxxxx

Neville almost lost his balance as he and Harry appeared at the apparition point in Diagon Alley, he turned towards the grinning boy and said.

"What the heck was that? I've been side-along apparated before and it was far more uncomfortable than that." Harry's grin simply grew.

"That was the Kaleidoscope." He told his friend. "But, regardless of that, it looks like we both need to go home. I'll see you off through the floo in the Leaky Cauldron before I disappear."

Neville just shook his head, he'd worked out that some things about this boy simply didn't make sense and it was better to ignore it, he wondered how long it would be before Hermione worked that out too.

"Alright then, goodbye." With that the two head into the Leaky Cauldron where Neville called out 'Longbottom Manor' before stepping through green flames and into his own home. With a soft sigh Harry Potter faded from view as well as from that world.

xxxxx

Harry landed with a thud.

"Can you get off me please, dear brother?" Looking down, Harry found that he'd ended up directly on top of Euryale and now was at eye level with her breasts.

"Sorry Euryale, I wasn't expecting anyone to be in here at this time." He got up before helping the Gorgon to her feet. He'd appeared in the kitchen in their quarters, a place that was his domain as it were seeing as he was by far the best cook out of the three.

"It's fine, just you and your ways. I didn't know you were going to try and seduce me, your own sister." She replied with a flirtatious wink that didn't faze Harry in the slightest, with the ridiculous number of situations he got into with girls he'd had to develop an immunity to embarrassment.

"That's not going to happen and you know it." He stated blandly. Euryale pouted before grabbing what she'd come into the kitchen for, some of the snacks that Harry had baked the other day. The two of them walked into the next room over and sat themselves down on the sofa, making themselves comfortable as they relaxed.

"So, how was your day?" Euryale asked. Harry felt happy knowing that she genuinely cared about him and if he said it hadn't been good then she'd do everything she could to make it right.

"It was pretty good. I waited for Neville in the Leaky Cauldron and while I did so I sorted through the memories Waver gave me yesterday. We then took the Knight Bus to Hermione's place and I am not kidding you, it was the most ridiculous journey ever, we were randomly teleporting all over the place without there being any logic to where we went with each jump. The bus driver needs to learn how to drive as well, bollards and whatnot kept moving out of the way and, if not for that, we'd have been a bloody smear on a cliff face somewhere." Harry told her about what he thought of each of the servants and the rather unpleasant experience that was the Knight bus.

"When we got there Neville seemed to become rather attached to the ground, he seemed to despise that bus as much as I do. Hermione's house is rather pleasant and has some colourful flowers out the front while the street itself seems like it's a good neighbourhood. Hermione's younger sister answered the door, she's the academic year below her and isn't a witch. It was quite amusing when she shouted for her mum because of two 'weird' boys at the door." They both got a laugh out of that, Harry was a little bit beyond weird.

He then spoke about everything he'd done that day, talking with Hermione in her room, showing Neville the star wars trilogy, the board games and the food. At the end of it all, Euryale agreed that it sounded like a pretty full and interesting day.

"Now, if you are going to eat all of my hand made snacks I guess I'll have to make some more" Harry told Euryale as he opened the fridge, the Gorgon's grin was lit up by the fridge's light.

Everyone loved Harry's snacks after all.

xxxxx

The next morning, Harry was sat in the library while reading one of the books that he'd brought from Salazar's library. He was trying to find out if the founders had anything to do with the snake that was apparently at the school. The most likely candidate for information was Salazar serpent-tongue so Harry hoped the journal he was reading could shed some light on the situation. Unfortunately, the journal was only one of many and they included a lot of day to day information, more like a factual diary than anything else, and given how long wizards could live, the record for the longest unaided life span was a hundred and ninety seven, there was a lot in there.

Harry was now into the fifty seventh year of Salazar Slytherin's life and they were still warding the castle, it shouldn't have surprised Harry considering the strength of the Hogwarts wards, but they'd been at it a long time. That the four founders had come together when Salazar was forty nine and Elgar Hufflepuff had offered her inherited castle as the structure three years later only showed how dedicated they were to their task.

A feminine giggle made Harry sigh. He'd awoken this morning to find that Zelretch had dosed Stheno and Euryale up on alcohol and both of them were lightweights, it didn't help that they were both giggly drunks. Harry had tried to use the Kaleidoscope to leave but found that Zelretch had messed with the rooms somehow to prevent that, it was likely that Zelretch was planning something and wanted to keep Harry surprised. It was when Harry had tried to open the door to the corridor and had to dodge out of the way of a drunk Arcueid that Harry decided to hide somewhere, that place was his and the Gorgon's private library.

Harry had tried to find a cure for drunkenness but all of the relevant tomes were suspiciously missing from their shelves. The only people who had access here apart from Harry his sisters were Zelretch, Waver, Len, Altrouge and Arcueid. He couldn't see Altrouge pulling a prank and Len was with him, Zelretch would have messed with the Kaleidoscope to help someone with a prank no doubt but Waver doesn't think giving Euryale alcohol is a good idea, he'd learnt about that through experience, so it was most likely Zelretch himself who was doing something.

Harry well remembered what happened the last time a prank war had been declared, every magi in the clock tower had avoided their corridor. They'd had all sorts of things happening, from standard things like whoopee cushions and buckets of custard propped over the doorways to more complex things like that series of booby traps that Euryale had come up with or Harry's ingenious use of honey and hedgehogs. Things had really gotten out of hand when they'd started using magecraft in their pranks, it got so bad that Lorelei actually told Zelretch off when they were in the cafeteria and one of the pranks had whizzed by her ear.

Harry closed his eyes with a sigh before standing up and placing the journal back on the shelf he'd got it from, Len stretched herself out before padding towards him and clambering back up to rest herself around his shoulders. Harry really appreciated when she did this in winter as it kept his neck warm but he could only wonder what people at Hogwarts would say if they knew the cat around his neck was in actuality a succubus as well as his familiar, the look on Dumbledore's face alone would be priceless.

Turning around to head out of the door and brave whatever mess the girls had gotten into, praying that Euryale at least had her underwear on this time, Harry stepped outside only to end up somewhere else. Harry looked around himself, it seemed to be the formalcraft room in Zelretch's quarters.

"Gramps," Harry sighed, "What trickery do you have planned that necessitates getting the girls drunk?" A voice behind Harry would have made most people jump but Harry had become acclimatised to Zelretch's antics and merely turned round to see said Ancestor standing behind him.

"Ah, I have everything set up for you to summon your servant!" He exclaims. "I didn't want their presence to interfere with the ritual and knowing how Stheno and the others worry for you, I thought it best to distract them."

Harry merely raises an eyebrow. "You know damn well that simply asking them to stay away would have worked."

Zelretch shrugs unrepentant. "True. I suppose I simply couldn't resist seeing what havoc they wreak this time, Euryale is always rather amusing and don't forget that time Stheno gave a history lecture while drunk, I don't think any of her students will. Arcueid was there too so I thought, why not? and got her inebriated as well."

A face palm was Harry's only reply, he should have known Zelretch would have done it simply to do it, the guy was predictable like that, and he would be wary of all three until they sobered up. That was when what Zelretch said actually penetrated his mind.

"Wait, did you say summon a servant? I thought it wasn't ready yet." He was excited to do the summoning but he was also wary of getting something wrong, his luck meant that even a perfect summoning would go wrong somehow.

"I've finished everything up so if you'll just let me grab Len then you can get on with it." Here he picked up the succubus from Harry's shoulders, a quick look showed that she had actually fallen asleep though whether she had done so anyway or Zelretch had cast something was debatable.

Harry shook his head as Zelretch disappeared in front of him. Taking his wand from its holster, he cast a cleaning spell on himself so that there was no cat hairs or anything for the summoning ritual to latch on to, no matter how bizarre it might be. He looked down at the inscribed circle in front of him and tried to discern as much as he could of it, there wasn't much that made sense to him except for the parts that focused on reaching through the kaleidoscope.

Taking a deep breath, Harry stuck out a hand and began to incant.

"**Let silver and steel be the essence**

**Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation**

**May you place your trust in me as I will trust you**

**My fate shall be yours to determine**

**Your self be mine to maintain**

**Let the path of right and wrong lie before you**

**That you may choose of your own free will**

**Open the Gate. Shut. Shut. Shut. Shut.**

**The four cardinal points are accounted for**

**Now may you come forth at my call**"

Harry opened his eyes as the circle began to take on a purple tinted glow.

xxxxx

_What was this? It was stirring. It was too soon! Who was this? Who thought to bypass it? Who thought to master one such as them? It remembered pain, agony, torment and hate. It felt out. It found him. What was he? He made no sense. He was different. Could he be the the one to bring it final rest? It was tormented so and damaged so and so full of malice. Was he the one who could end it? He was reaching for his perfect match, a woman. She was like him. She was the same as him. It could not allow that. It could not allow this chance to escape. It needed bait. The woman would work. It would deny him her. It would tempt him with her and when he was here, it would take its chance. Its current vessel was strong but brittle, fragile. He was strong and flexible. He felt strange but he had no cracks in his mind, not like her. She was broken, a doll. She was useless. It reached out for her, the woman, the goddess, the monster. He reached out for her, the guardian, the protector, the snake. He was strong but so was It. It had to deny him. He was needed. He was Its hope. Hope, a word It hadn't thought in a long time. Its village had denied it hope, before It was It and It was a He. It felt a tug at her. She was sleeping with the worms again. She was resilient if nothing else. It turned back to him and the other her. He had almost pulled her away! It focused and pulled. It needed her so he would come. Family was temptation and he would be tempted. It felt him pull harder and so It pulled harder. A mighty pull proved It was far more determined than he for this prize, he didn't now about the prize after all. It felt his connection splinter and It guided that to two who would serve him well. He would need to live to help It, to save It from itself. It faded back to the dark place, the place where nothing existed but memory and pain, the place that It had been put here sixty-eight years ago and from where it would escape. It was not yet ready to try and escape. It would need another two years but He would be ready then and It would be ready for him. What awareness It had faded into the miasma of memory and pain._

xxxxx

Harry didn't know whether this was supposed to happen or not. When the ritual had started there had been a familiar purple glow but it hadn't stayed that way. The first band of command seals on his arm had bled freely, a sign that they would soon be in use, but when that happened, something changed. The comfortable and familiar feel that had pervaded Harry's senses was disrupted and Harry's mind was suddenly assaulted with visions of rape, murder, theft, genocide, disease and numerous other unpleasant things. He had focused on that familiar feeling and tried to bring it back, he was successful for a while but those visions returned with renewed vigour.

It had gone on like this for several minutes, one moment Harry could feel that familiar sensation getting closer and closer until the dark and heavy presence would overwhelm him and drag it away. He was soon dripping with sweat, his circuits blazing away while Harry tried to complete the summoning ritual while he sill maintained consciousness.

He thought it was all over when he felt that familiar presence disappear from his senses completely and he fell on his arse, completely drained. A twinge in his arm showed that the second band of command seals was now bleeding, ready for use.

Harry knew that his Lancer luck had kicked in and that something was going to happen but what it was, he didn't know. Climbing back to his feet, Harry pushed as much prana as he could manage into the ritual only to feel something respond. No, not something, some things. There was more than one presence approaching him now and the familiar one wasn't amongst them.

Harry looked towards the formalcraft circle as he felt the two presences, there was just two, appear before him. The excess prana took form in a billowing cloud of dust, Harry wondered whether Zelretch had added something in for special effect, before two silhouettes formed amongst the dust.

The two figures rose to their feet before striding towards Harry, blowing the dust away as they did so, and knelt before him. Harry sighed and palmed his face, only he would pull off something like this he thought as two voices asked in stereo.

"At your summoning, I have come forth. I ask of you, are you my master?"


	19. Servants and an Alchemist

AN: Another chapter and some concerns to address from my reviewers. The confusing thing at the end of the last chapter was done on purpose and will have plot relevance in the future, just because everything isn't addressed now doesn't mean it's never going to be. The servants, the poll I put up wasn't for who he'd going to summon but who he'd get along with. I hope the summons are accepted because they aren't amongst the usual ones used in fics but they do have rather low stats compared to other servants and I'm not looking for super-powered, blast everything to smithereens power houses but those that I can use to contribute to plot and character development which will happen. Is Harry overpowered? He's definitely not weak and as far as him supporting servants this is what his element and origin are for, he can support their bodies fine but their noble phantasms are something else. They can melee their way through anything but as soon as they start using their super duper awesome special attacks, Harry is going to be drained quite quickly. There will be other things addressed but if you look at the books and exclude the things that happen at the end of the year then there isn't much call for combat. First book has them trying to figure out who is after the thing on the third floor and what said thing is, Second year is about them stumbling across the victims and trying to figure out who and what is causing it, third year is all about the fear of Sirius and learning the patronus charm, fourth year is the first year that there is any sort of 'combat' potential and even then Harry gets around it most of the time, fifth year is about Umbridge and Ministry bashing, sixth year is about Harry stalking his secret crush Draco and Seventh is about them going on a camping trip and doing occasional challenges in the crystal maze! Harry is going to summon physically weak servants even when the grail war rolls around and he is going to be seriously overpowered by all of his opponents so Harry summoning servants doesn't make him this God-like super power. There is one reviewer that I would have loved to message but he reviewed as a guest so if anyone actually wants to discuss the story then give me some way to contact them. Oh, and for the reviewer that was wondering if these are buffer chapters: No, as soon as a chapter is written I send it to my beta. This is as fast as I type.

As always you can find my forum either on my profile or here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

Please enjoy the chapter

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 19 – Servants and an Alchemist

"No, it isn't right to use random people off the street for organ transplants." Harry sighed.

Most people would think that what Harry had just said was common sense, others would point out the laws that prevented that and the majority of people would question he need to actually say that. The answer lay with two women sat in front of the long-haired boy.

One of the girls sat upright with a straight back, like nobility would, and wore a short black dress that covered her down to mid-thigh. The dress didn't go straight down though but flared out starting at waist height, the garment resembled the tutus worn by ballerinas in that regard. She wore white tights with small pink diamonds down the sides which led down to high-heeled, pointed boots with a flick at the end that was the same length as the heel. She had detached sleeves with white ruffles at both ends and she had two ribbons in her hair that were wrapped around her horns. Yes, that's right, horns. This particular servant had a pair of horns sticking out of the top of her head and a forked tail as well, Harry could admit that she looked rather cute with her blue eyes and dark pink hair but the tail and horns definitely marked her as non-human. Harry didn't care about the fact she wasn't human but he was having trouble thinking of who she could be, there weren't many female heroes and fewer still that had inhuman heritage. This was servant Lancer, she had a spear that looked rather demonic, it was black with a twisted metal head that had a secondary spear head next and some kind of cord stretching from one end to the other. Her stats weren't particularly high but Harry was more than happy that she didn't have the typical bad luck that lancer class servants had, she had C rank strength, D rank endurance, A rank agility, E rank mana, B rank luck and D rank for her noble phantasm. It was expected that she had such high agility as that was one thing that lancers were known for but she also didn't have the low luck rank that many of them had.

Harry looked at the other girl he had summoned, Berserker. She was a redhead with heterochromia, her eyes were two different colours. Her left eye was steel grey and her right was golden, not that you could often see them as her fringe often covered her face. Berserker wore something that looked rather similar to a wedding dress that had detached sleeves and gloves, she also wore some kind of veil that she draped over the back of her head. Reading that, you would think she was rather ordinary, especially when compared to lancer but she also had her oddities. Her legs were made of metal and her feet were formed into the shape of high heels, she also wore a golden collar that connected to some kind of devices that were where a normal persons ears would be and they, in turn, were connected to a golden spike that stuck out of her forehead. Berserker wielded a large, two-handed mace that had a rounded head which looked as if it could separate into eight pieces. Her stats were also not particularly high but Harry was grateful that her Mad Enhancement rank was pretty much negligible, not that he liked the thought of using it anyway. Her stats were C rank strength, B rank endurance, D rank agility, D rank mana, B rank luck and C rank for her noble phantasm.

All of that aside, it was his servants personalities that had been causing the headaches that now troubled Harry. Normally, the grail would grant them an understanding of modern culture and languages but, since he hadn't used the grail, Harry had to use other methods. It turned out that Zelretch had been looking at those language lozenges that had served them well for so many years and had managed to incorporate the english language into the ritual circle they'd been summoned with. What they'd forgotten about was that the summoned spirits would be from times long past, meaning that Harry had to make an attempt to educate them. Careful questioning revealed that Berserker had knowledge typical of the eighteenth century and Lancer was hovering around the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Harry had asked Stheno to bring the both of them up to date with modern history while he taught them primary school maths and what he knew of beyond that, he was rather grateful when Berserker turned out to have quite a wealth of knowledge on biology and physics.

Apart from educating them in academics, he'd had to try and teach them how society worked. Lancer's noble attitude led her to think that the hierarchy of her time was still in effect and Harry had had to bring up human rights when she'd asked which peasants she could slaughter for her bath, Harry had filed that piece of info away to try and work out who she was. Berserker was simultaneously easier and harder to educate, she soaked up anything that she was taught but she was also cripplingly shy. Harry had at times forgotten that he was dealing with heroes of past ages as he tried to work past what differences were between them.

Lancer wasn't a bad person, she was rather friendly actually, but she it seemed like no one had told her no when she was alive. When she had learned of modern equality she had merely commented on how different things were now before assimilating it into her memory, Harry was exceptionally grateful that he had summoned two people who were both quick learners and readily accepting of the differences that had occurred since their time.

"So how do people get organ transfers then?" Harry was brought out of his thoughts at Lancer's question. He had to think back for a moment to pick up where his thoughts had trailed off.

"People can write in their wills or sign up with the National Health Service so that when they die their organs are preserved and ready for anyone who needs them. There are also those that volunteer to undergo surgery when someone needs an organ that they have, a human can survive with artificial heart valves and artificially grown bladders just fine. There are also people who can live their lives with only a single lung, a single kidney, no spleen although that increases the risk of infection, no stomach although they sometimes have to alter their diet, no appendix and I don't think I have to explain that reproductive organs aren't necessary for survival." Harry found that he was learning a lot as well while he taught these two everything that they asked about, it was fun and made Harry think about a career as a teacher.

Looking at the clock, Harry decided to end the 'lesson' before anyone got to his kitchen and tried to cook something, he was very protective of his kitchen when he was in the clock tower.

xxxxx

Thankfully, Harry managed to get to his kitchen before anyone else did, especially Arcueid, and began to cook dinner for everyone. As he had for the last couple of days, he asked his two servants what they preferred, it was a rather subtle way to find out where they might have come from. Berserker had no particular preference and Lancer said that she'd eat anything as long as it was good quality, something she told him his most assuredly was.

He ended up making a three course meal, though he didn't know why, and everyone started with a simple but tasty soup. Conversion was comfortable around the table and the only one who didn't seem too at ease was Berserker, Harry made sure to speak directly to her several times to include her in what was going on.

It was after they'd eaten the main course and were waiting for dessert to finish when Stheno spoke up, bringing the attention of everyone to one topic of conversation.

"How are you feeling Harry? Supporting two servants at once, and completely separate from the grail at that, must be taking a toll on you." She looked over Harry, he didn't look particularly tired or under the weather but she would always worry about him, she had the role of protective older sister down perfect.

"I'm surprisingly okay actually. I suppose my element and origin are showing their worth right now, I can feel the drain on my prana, it's not a debilitating amount but it's definitely there. We did do an experiment where they started to empower their noble phantasms and I certainly felt my prana rush into them then, it seems that while I can support their bodies without a problem due to my element and origin, replenishing their reserves is something else. I am rather grateful that they have D and C rank noble phantasms, if they required any more power then they would totally wipe me out." Zelretch looked intrigued and asked.

"Do you have any idea why that is?" Sitting back in his chair, Harry thought about what they'd tested. Berserker's mace and the lightning that shot off of it had been more draining than Lancer's screaming attack despite how Lancer's scream had a greater effect. It was quite possible that Harry's element staved off the encroachment of Gaia in what was basically a spirit. Harry was grateful that Berserker had a means of recycling wasted prana otherwise he would be drained far too quickly for him to fight effectively.

"I think that because my primary element and origin lean towards beings spiritual beings then I can quite easily prevent, or at least greatly resist, the erosion of Gaia on them but they still have the same prana capacity that they would anyway that still needs filling. It's only because of my prana reserves and familiarity with the weapons I project that allows them to be effective, I don't have an affinity for weapons after all but rather spirits. I remember feeling the large amount of prana that was taken when I first summoned my servants, far more than I really had to spare."

Zelretch nodded. "That makes sense, just because you have a particular affinity for one thing doesn't mean that similar yet different branches of thaumaturgy will be as accommodating to you. I suppose it's rather incredible that you can project weapons in the manner that you do, I guess that inscribing the runes yourself as well as being there as it is forged gave you a familiarity with it that counteracts the effects of your element and origin."

"Simply put, They can exist but spamming their attacks is a no-no?" Waver summed it up, though why he had to phrase it like a video game Harry didn't know. He wasn't going to ask either, he'd been considering getting therapy for the guy for a while now concerning his addiction, though how he would explain that the guy was playing games that wouldn't be released for another decade was something he couldn't answer.

Euryale looked up at Harry and asked. "Have you told them about the whole alternate reality magic stuff going on yet?"

Harry just looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, I explained that shortly after their summoning." Harry seemed to realise something there and turned to his two servants. "Hang on. The only reason a servant responds to a summons is if they have a wish that they want granted. I didn't summon with the aid of the grail so there's no way for me to enact a miracle. I hope you two can forgive me but if there is anything I can do for you then please let me know."

Lancer sat back in her chair and smiled, "My wish would have been to remain young and beautiful forever." Everyone blinked at that before a small smile appeared on Harry's face.

"Heroic spirits can't age so hasn't your wish been granted simply by you being summoned? You are remarkably beautiful as you are too." Harry shared a bemused smile with Zelretch and the Gorgon sisters, Waver was simply palming his face and muttering about 'super powered people making no sense', Harry decided to ignore that.

Turning back to Lancer, Harry wasn't prepared for what happened next. The girl had launched herself over to him and was hugging him rather tightly, so forceful was she that they'd been knocked off Harry's chair and she was now straddling him on the floor as she cried out.

"You're right! Thank you Master! thank you, thank you, thank you!" Harry patted the girl on the back as he reinforced himself against her crushing hug, C rank strength meant she was approximately thirty times as strong as an ordinary human.

"How about you Berserker? Is there anything you wanted?" Harry asked as soon as he retook his seat, Lancer now perched on his lap with a wide smile on her face, that was a rather simple wish to fulfil.

"Ah," She blushed and looked down at her hands, she truly was cripplingly shy that one. "I, I want to belong. My creator denied me and took me apart in fear of what I was so my wish is to find somewhere I can belong." Harry blinked, it seemed like the heroes of ages past were far more human than stories portray. A wish to be beautiful could be something a modern day teen-aged girl would like and Berserker sounded like an abandoned orphan.

"I don't know about everyone else but I am always ready to gain another friend. I can't make people accept you, and even if I could that would be wrong, but I can easily accept you as you are." There was some agreement from around the table and Waver's comment of 'Why the hell not? I'm the odd one out around here' had everyone laughing. Berserker rose from her seat and took a few tentative steps towards Harry before embracing him in a gentle hug, he swore he heard a quiet 'Thank you' as she pulled away.

Harry caught sight of a contemplative look on Zelretch's face. "What is it Gramps? You've obviously got something on your mind."

Zelretch looked at Harry before casting his eyes over the two servants. "It's just a bit of a surprise really, I expected you to summon a certain rider class servant."

Looking curious, Harry asked "Who and why?"

"Why, Medusa of course! She is normally summoned as the rider class servant of the fifth grail war but, since you were doing the summoning earlier than the heir of Makiri, I expected you to nab her."

Harry's eyebrows rose and fell as he scrunched his brow. "It's a shame the next grail war isn't due for another fifty years." He sighed. "It would have been nice to complete the family."

Zelretch's chuckling confused Harry, he looked up at the old man to see a twinkle in those red eyes. "Did I not say? The fifth Holy Grail War will be early, it will happen in just two years."

"In Fuyuki, right?" Zelretch nodded and took note of the excitement building inside his grandson. Zelretch paused at that, Harry did call him Gramps but Zelretch had never thought this fondly of anyone before. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he focused back on the almost twelve year old as he started making plans for the Grail War. He knew there and then that Harry wouldn't be dissuaded, whether he became a master or not, he would be in Fuyuki for the grail war.

"All this is great and everything but aren't you supposed to be looking after dessert?" Harry blinks up at Euryale's interruption before remembering the cake in the oven and rushing off before it burned.

xxxxx

Time passed and Harry's birthday came and went, he got various gifts from his family as well as Hermione and Neville, they sent a book and plant respectively. The book from Hermione was all about Egyptian mythology and had a note attached to it 'You know your Greek stuff, now expand your horizons', he grinned at that and made a note to read it before he saw her next. Neville's gift was a magical plant, serpent's bloom, he'd noticed how Harry's transfigurations always seemed to end up sporting a snake motif and had sent him this plant. It looked like a vine but it moved by itself if it needed more light. This gave the plant its name as it slithered like a snake to the nearest source of light when it moved, Harry found the flowers that sprouted down its back to be rather pleasant as well.

It was the day after his birthday that two letters arrived in the drop box, Harry was in the library reading when he heard Stheno calling him.

"Yes?" he asked as he left the room and sat down on the sofa, Stheno handed him the two letters that she held. One of them bore the Hogwarts seal and Harry decided to open that one first, it was that years book list as well as the ticket for platform nine and three-quarters.

"Do we have any of these Lockhart books in the library? I can't say that I remember the name." Harry asked with a scrunched brow, they had a lot of books in their library but that didn't mean they had everything. "Never mind, I'll take a look later and if not then I'll go and collect them before school starts. They're a set text so Flourish and Blotts should have plenty of them even if they have rather strange titles."

Harry looked over to the library door as Lancer came out, Harry had keyed them in after the summoning. She had a book in hand, a book on dragons.

"Is this what dragons are really like in that other world?" She asked. Harry went over and looked at which book she had, it was _'Dragon species of the world and how to recognise them'. _Giving it a quick glance over to make sure it wasn't a fiction book, Harry told her it was.

"Whereas here where dragons are truly fearsome beings, they are rather less impressive in that world. I think it says something when they outlaw dragon breeding and have reserves where dragons are cared for, can you see any of the phantasmal species needing human intervention to preserve their species?" Harry shook his head at that, Neville had told him and Hermione about some of the dragons that existed and the welsh green seemed to be more like a docile pet than a fearsome predator.

Harry looked down at the other letter he'd been sent, a quick structural analysis showed that it was made of paper rather than parchment an... and it was a portkey. Placing the letter back down and berating himself for not being more careful, Harry analysed the letter as thoroughly as he could.

The letter itself seemed innocent and that portkey wouldn't be set off when he opened it or when any physical or magical cues were given, it seemed to be a password activated portkey but Harry wasn't about to chance it. Lancer and Stheno looked curiously at him as he backed away from the letter and drew his wand from its holster.

"What is it?" Lancer asked, she didn't really know anything about the magic that the other world had and Harry's cautious manner put her on edge.

"It's a portkey, once triggered it would teleport whoever was touching it to a predetermined location. This one seems to be password activated but I'd rather not take any chances." Harry replied while he used an exceptionally weak cutting curse to cut through the wax seal before using a series of levitation charms to separate the letter from the envelope. A temporary sticking charm made sure it laid flat against the table. Harry leaned over and read it aloud for the other two.

Dear Mr. Potter

In response to the letter you sent me a month ago, I feel that it would be best if we met face to face.

Your concerns about the stone are well founded and I would like to personally reassure you of the kind of person I am.

This letter is a portkey, the password is the name of the object you destroyed. If you wish to meet with me then simply touch the letter and call out the password, you will be transported to mine and my wife's abode.

Yours Sincerely

Nicholas Flamel

"Well, are you going to go?" Stheno asked.

Harry looked down at the letter before looking up to Stheno and hen across to Lancer. He bit his lip while he thought of what to do and his eyes were drawn to Lancer's claws. She had no fingers but she seemed to have no trouble with anything that would require dexterity, looking back up into her blue eyes he made up his mind.

"Yes, but I am not going alone, I think that Lancer and Berserker should accompany me and astralise as soon as we arrive. I'm not going to go in alone, not when I don't have to and I don't really trust the other person." Stheno seemed satisfied that he was thinking before rushing into what could have been a compromising position.

"When did you write to the guy anyway?" Harry shrugged and told her he'd done so before he left Hogwarts, he'd explained that the stone had been destroyed and his concerns about the creation of the stone itself.

"It's the compulsive effect to use it that really has me feeling wary, the fact that it uses willing sacrifices really pisses me off as well. I don't like it when people throw away their own lives when they could actually do something positive or productive instead but the fact it makes someone want to use it means there could be other people who tried to make one. I really don't want to see a second of those things ever made again." Harry spat out with disgust, his life before his adoption had been unpleasant but he'd never given up hope for the future, he detested the idea of simply giving up and surrendering to death. Harry was stubborn like that.

"Very well, when are you going?" Harry looked at the time and saw it was currently early afternoon.

"I think I'll go now, it's not too late and not too early so I can be sure they're probably awake. It's unlikely that they are eating lunch right now and as such they should have the time to meet me, it's not like they gave me a time to arrive." Stheno nodded and Harry sent a telepathic message to Berserker who was still in the library.

Zelretch came in to the room just as Berserker took her place next to Harry. Looking at how Harry was dressed, in his normal armour and long coat, he raised an eyebrow.

"Going somewhere?" He asked. Harry simply nodded and told him about the letter from Flamel.

"I would suggest travelling back to your world before activating the portkey, we don't currently know how it would react with it being in a separate dimension." Harry agreed that that was a sensible idea and said that he would do just that.

"Well then, I wish you luck and be careful." Zelretch told him before turning to the two servants. "Look out for him, he has this annoying habit of finding trouble where none exists." Lancer told him she would take care of Harry while Berserker simply nodded.

"I am still here you know." Harry grumbled as Stheno also took the chance to tell them to look out for him. He knew that he always found trouble, he did say he had a lancer's luck, but he always got himself out of trouble again so they should give him some slack.

Stheno looked at the boy who'd changed her life so much and drew him into a hug. "We know, Harry. We just care about you, like you care about us." She smiled at him and his scowl turned into a smile in turn.

Stepping back, Harry linked arms with Lancer and Berserker he said. "Well, one small trip to another world and then we'll see where this blasted thing takes us."

Zelretch and Stheno watched as the three of them vanished from sight, they hoped everything would go okay but with Harry's luck that was more the exception than the rule.

xxxxx

After a brief stop at platform nine and three-quarters, Harry told Berserker and Lancer to astralise as soon as the portkey did its thing. He spoke the password, 'Philosopher's Stone', and disappeared.

He reappeared somewhere else, somewhere on the coast. Harry looked around, trying to figure out as much as he could as quickly as he could. Reinforcing his eyes allowed Harry to see another landmass in the distance, if he used the fact that Flamel is a French name and took that distant landmass to be England then he would say that he's somewhere on the northern coast of France.

Making sure that Berserker and Lancer were astralised, and taking up even less prana in the process, he checked out the area around him. A quick structural grasp told him that there were numerous wards set up, not that he currently had time to try and understand them, and one of them had been triggered. Focusing on the triggered ward, he found it to be some kind of alert or alarm ward that would let the caster know there was someone there.

Harry gave mental commands to his servants to spread out and check the surrounding area, he sent Berserker North, towards the sea and Lancer South, towards the house that was situated there. Keeping structural analysis going, Harry tried to feel any difference in the wind pressure. That would tell him when someone moved whether they were invisible or not.

Turning his head slightly, Harry called out. "If you're trying to ambush me then it failed completely. Make yourself visible again and we can get this under way, that applies to the one directly behind me too." Hearing that had Berserker returning to his side and standing back to back with him even in astral form.

"Very well." Came a voice from the tree line. A man appeared as if from thin air, wand in hand. He looked to be in his late forties and had slightly greying brown hair as well as blue eyes that twinkled merrily, Harry had become somewhat wary of twinkly eyes and was glad to feel no attempt a legilimency brush against his mind.

"I must say that what Albus has said about you didn't do you justice, you are far more cautious than I would have given you credit for. The only failing I see was in coming here alone." Harry let a slow smile creep onto his face.

"Who said I'm alone?" The man, Harry suspected he was Nicholas Flamel, laughed at that and replied.

"My dear boy, I have trusted these wards for the past century and no one has ever breached them without our knowledge, I don-" Here he was cut off as a spear tapped his throat, a spear held by a now physical Lancer.

"You were saying? Oh, unless the other wishes to have a weapon pinning her to the floor then it would be best if they followed your example and stops trying to sneak up on me." Harry tilted his head over his shoulder and looks behind himself. "I am talking to you, you know."

A woman appears from thin air where Harry was looking, she also had her wand in hand and pointed at Harry. She looked to be about the same age as the man, she had blonde hair and green eyes that had become slightly lined with age which did nothing to diminish her beauty.

"I assume from my husband's comments that we should have been expecting you. I will have to discipline him later for failing to tell me to expect a guest." Nick's face paled quickly at this and took on the complexion of old porridge. "My name is Perenelle Flamel, the one being held at spear point is my husband, Nicholas Flamel. May I ask who you are and what companions you have with you?"

Harry took a slight bow to Perenelle, enough to be respectful, before straightening and giving his reply. "My name is Harry Potter and your husband gave me a letter that was a portkey. He invited me here but failed to specify a time or date to do so, I thought that now was as good a time as any. The one holding a spear to Nicholas' neck is referred to as Lancer, there is another here who uses the title of Berserker and the cat sat on my shoulders is called Len." Harry was glad when she didn't react to his name like so many others had, she kept her cool and kept her wand pointed at him.

"May I ask why Nicholas invited you to visit us? He doesn't often bring anyone here, he more prefers to go out into the world in disguise." Perenelle asked, her wand was still pointed in his direction but there was less tension in her body now.

"The headmaster of Hogwarts used a particular stone in a trap meant to capture the shade of a dark lord, the trap was set up in the school. For reasons unnecessary to our current conversation, I ended up facing off against the shade as well as the teacher it was possessing. The stone was destroyed in the conflict but I found out several things that disturbed me. I wrote a letter to the stone's creator and he replied with the aforementioned invite." Harry had to say that he was presently a lot more fond of Perenelle Flamel than he was Nicholas, she seemed to be cautious and careful.

"Meddling old coot." Harry's reinforced ears managed to pick up Perenelle's murmured insult and that really made him smile. "He told us that foul thing had been destroyed and now we find he'd used it as bait, dammit! I knew that we shouldn't have trusted him."

Harry chuckled. "I couldn't agree with you more. Now, shall we put weapons away and find out what's going on?" he asked. Perenelle looked him up and down before nodding and holstering her wand, Harry did the same before addressing Lancer. "You can put that away now Lancer." She nodded and her spear disappeared from view as she made her way over to Harry's side.

Nicholas rubbed his neck where the spear had been resting. "Okay, I may have gotten a little big-headed there. Let me introduce myself, I am Nicholas Flamel but I wouldn't mind if you called me Nick." Harry nodded at the man as they walked side by side, following Perenelle into the house.

"I suppose you should call me Penny then, Mr. Potter." Perenelle called over her shoulder as she stepped in the front door. Harry used a flash of structural analysis to check for traps, which came up clean, before he replied.

"If I'm calling you two Nick and Penny then it would be best if you simply called me Harry." He said as he followed Penny into the front room, a sofa and two arm chairs were in there with a coffee table between them. The room had a warm red and brown colour scheme with earthy tones throughout, Harry was a little surprised to see a Television in there. Nick seemed to notice his surprise because that was the first thing he mentioned as they took their seats.

"We've warded some of the rooms in the house to repel ambient magic, we have to be careful with the cables but we manage, it allows us to keep up to date with the world at large and I must say that I am rather addicted to sonic the hedgehog." Harry then realised what sort of person he was dealing with, Nick was like a more sociable and fun-loving Waver. Harry made a mental note to not let the two meet as they would end up discussing games for hours on end.

"So," Penny said. "Can I ask what concerns you had about the Philosopher's stone?" She looked at Harry curiously, she'd probably never seen anyone look at it as anything other than a miracle,after all, most people saw at as a source of infinite wealth and life.

"When I touched the stone, I saw something. It wasn't pleasant and I think it was part of how the stone was created." Harry tried to think of a way to explain what he was trying to say. "I saw about thirty people committing ritualistic suicide to charge the stone, that added to the compulsive effect to use it has me rather uneasy."

Harry looked at the two people in front of him and was pleased to see them look rather queasy and green, Perenelle's eyes had narrowed dangerously while Nicholas' had widened in shock. A quick mental conversation with his two servants told him that they too found the reaction to be genuine.

Nick actually looked serious now as he looked across the coffee table towards Harry. "I didn't know," He says. "I was an apprentice when the stone was first created and my master got into an accident that killed him, that is how I received the stone. I didn't know what it did at the time, I just thought it was some new material he was trying to transmute." Nick sighed and sat back in his seat. "I am known as a great alchemist and, with how much time I've had to experiment, that is a title I'll gladly accept. What I am not, is the creator of the Philosopher's stone. I inherited it and it wasn't until I dropped it in my drink once that I found out about what it can do, I shared it with my wife, and that is how I found out about its rejuvenating qualities. I know that it can't bestow immortality, I was in my thirties when I first started drinking the elixir and, as you can see, we do not look that age any more. It was only recently, with how aware the muggles have become of drugs, that we realised how addictive it was. We gave it to Albus to have it destroyed, nothing done by alchemy would work and that is where I specialise."

Harry sat back in the armchair and looked at the both of them, they looked rather tired and weary. "So you didn't give him permission to use it as bait for Voldemort in a school full of children?" Nick looked up at him and Harry saw an edge of anger in those eyes.

"No, we didn't. We received a letter shortly after yours that told us it'd been destroyed but not how, your letter seemed to have more answers so I decided to invite you here and ask about it. I knew your grandfather, Charles Potter, he was one of the few people to see past my disguises and I actually got to know him. He was great with wards and several of his designs are incorporated into this house's defences. I did ask Albus about you over the years, I wasn't too fond of James but I liked Lily when I met her, though she and Penny got along really well, I think they commiserated about their immature husbands." Penny gained a smile on her face at that, it must have brought up pleasant memories.

"You look nothing like either of your parents, that may be why I reacted so warily when you arrived. You don't act like them either, you have a predatory grace about you that I haven't seen in years and you give off a feeling that tells me you aren't someone I want to mess with." Harry's surprise must have been rather evident at that because Nick chuckled before continuing. "I am over six hundred years old, I know what I'm talking about as I have experienced it before. I would say that you feel like a nundu stalking its prey except you don't have the weight behind you. In a fight, I'd imagine you use quick and accurate attacks rather than trying to brute force your way through opponents." Harry nodded at that, it was a little off-putting for him to be so easily analysed like that.

Penny sat forwards in her chair this time. "You mentioned traps for the stone, can you tell us how it was protected at Hogwarts?" Harry nodded and explained each challenge to them, the fact that the door to a cerberus could be opened by a simple unlocking charm already had them growling, but it was the final 'challenge' that had them cracking their knuckles in agitation.

"I knew Albus had his faults but that is ridiculous, a first year could easily bypass all of that and then they'd be stuck before that dratted mirror." Harry cocked his head to one side and Nick answered the unasked question. "I've seen that mirror before, it caused a lot of trouble until it was stolen away. No one knew who stole it but it looks like Albus managed to get his hands on it, I am really glad it's destroyed."

Penny added her bit to it. "I told you that child was no good. He was Grindlewald's lover back when the boy was planning his reign, he never grew out of his 'Greater Good' stage." Harry scrunched his brow and Penny rolled her eyes before elaborating.

"We like to know anyone we take on as an apprentice and their past. Albus Dumbledore was the gay lover of Gellert Grindlewald, the dark lord before Voldemort and they actually share a catchphrase as it were, the 'Greater Good'. Grindlewald used this as a reason for magicals to rule over non-magicals, apparently wizards should shepherd the world towards the future. He wasn't a blood purist but he did cause World War Two, he was trying to make a muggle superpower which would act as his puppet before revealing the Wizarding World." Harry nodded, that was interesting and not something found in history books.

"I'm sorry Penny, I thought that he would have learnt his lesson. I suppose the war with Voldemort a decade ago should have proved to me otherwise, he was always trying to redeem his enemies rather than keeping his allies alive." Nick looked at Harry. "Thank you for getting rid of that stone and being honest with us." Harry was confused how he knew he was being honest and again Nick seemed to pick up on it. "I know you're being honest by your body language, I do have over six centuries of experience to fall back on and no legilimency is needed." Harry nodded, that was logical. "I owe you my gratitude and if there is anything I can do for you then ask, if it isn't reprehensible then I'll do it."

Harry cocked his head to one side. "Can I hold that request in reserve? Such a thing from you is undoubtedly rare and I'd rather not waste it, I can't think of something right now."

Penny chuckled. "Yes child, you may. I will also add that if there is ever anything you wish to question us about then you are welcome to do so, I need not mention that we will cease contact with Albus as he has broken our trust in him."

Nick nodded his head. "As smart as he is, he does have his failings. I am sorry Penny, I should have seen it when we apprenticed him. How he avoided Slytherin with ambition like his, I'll never know."

A smile crept onto Harry's face. "Well, I have studied a fair bit of alchemy myself..."

Penny chuckled as she saw her husband's eyes light up and the three of them started discussing what they knew of Alchemy. Penny found herself surprised by some of the ideas that Harry put forth, it was almost like he knew some other form of Alchemy, she made a mental note to keep herself informed about the boy in years to come.

xxxxx

"Remind me again why we _have _to go to Diagon Alley today?" Harry didn't care that his blindfold rendered his glare ineffective as he cast a look at Hermione.

Harry was sat in the Leaky Cauldron with Neville and Hermione, the latter had sent both boys a letter telling them a date when they could all collect their textbooks together and spend some time with one another. Hermione's parents had accompanied her and Neville's Gran had chaperoned him, Euryale decided that she would act as the 'responsible' adult despite both Berserker and Lancer being there in astral form.

Hermione's mother was trying to question Augusta Longbottom on everything to do with the Wizarding world while she tried to wheedle information out of Euryale, she was more successful with the former than the latter. Augusta Longbottom was asking Hermione's parents about all of the things Neville had told her of what he'd experienced of the muggle world when visiting Hermione, she was curious about some of the things that she had heard and was amazed when they confirmed them for her. Euryale was simply having fun dodging Emma's questions and dropping vague hints into what she said to frustrate the woman further.

"You'll see, there's something special happening today!" Hermione seemed rather excited and a glance at Neville showed he was no more clued in than he was, they would both simply have to wait and see.

Looking around the bar, Harry noticed how busy it was, busier than when Mcgonagall had taken him to get his equipment last year. There was a number of other Hogwarts students here, something that irritated Harry as he preferred to avoid crowds. The adults in the area were also looking at him, having read the _Daily Prophet_, a newspaper that had been left on their table, Harry now knew that his appearance was fast becoming common knowledge. The article in the paper was rather amusing to Harry, it was written by a Rita Skeeter, a sensationalist if ever he read one. Harry decided to take another look at the article in question, it didn't fail to amuse him.

Our Saviour Changed

By Rita Skeeter

We all know of Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, and how he saved the Wizarding World from the dark lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, eleven years ago but who really is he?

There is a wide range of Harry Potter goods that have been distributed throughout the nation and Harry Potter has become a household name that is on every witch's or wizard's lips. The problem here is that Harry Potter looks nothing like what we have been led to believe.

All of the stories, and even the history books that record the events of the last Wizarding War, depict a boy with messy black hair and intense green eyes. Witches and Wizards that waited in the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley last year to welcome him back into the Wizarding World after his ten year seclusion were disappointed that no child of that description appeared.

All of those Witches and Wizards did however see another remarkable first year buying his supplies. This boy was extremely pale and rather thin with long black hair that was heavily streaked with purple. Now, no one knew the name of this boy but there was no way this could be Harry Potter, could it?

His hair had none of the messiness that Potter Males have been known for and he wore a blindfold which prevents anyone knowing the colour of his eyes, even now none know their colour. One iconic part of the boy-who-lived's image that everyone knows about is the scar that rests on his forehead, this is where You-Know-Who's killing curse struck the poor infant and the defining characteristic that any witch or wizard would look for. Harry Potter doesn't have it, he has a mark on his forehead but it is not the lightning bolt scar that everyone knows about. On his brow there is a rune, a rune no one seems able to recognise. The rune takes the form of a stylized letter that looks like a cross between a Z and a reversed S, there is a small flick that crosses it on the lower right part of it.

With all of these changes we need to ask ourselves, who is Harry Potter? When the boy was fifteen months old, the Wizengamot were reassured by Albus Dumbledore (Headmaster of Hogwarts, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and holder of the Order of Merlin First Class) that the boy was being cared for by his only living relatives. On looking up records in the Ministry of Magic, Harry Potter's only known living relatives are muggles. Muggles are not the ideal people to deal with a wizarding child, especially an heir to an Ancient and Noble house, and I, Rita Skeeter, sought an interview with those carers.

It was a great surprise when I found that Harry Potter wasn't living with his muggle aunt and her family, he had lived there but had disappeared seven years ago. I went with all haste to Gringotts, the goblins are known for their ability to track down their vault owners, to enquire about the Potter heir. I was told that Mr. Potter was staying with blood relatives and when I asked them about the relation between the carers and the child I was told, "Gringotts will not break the confidences of one of our main vault holders. It should suffice to say that the Potter heir is living with those who are both magical and have strong, unassailable blood ties to him."

We at the Daily Prophet are curious about these relatives and hope that Mr. Potter is well cared for under their supervision as there have been disquieting rumours recently about the sort of people that have raised our saviour.

Harry just shook his head. Whether there had been rumours or not, there would be now that she had written that. Harry took another look at the people around him, his blindfold was good for covering up where he was looking, and saw how their eyes flickered between him and Euryale. Some of them had slightly narrowed eyes, others were looking curious and others looked excited simply to see the boy-with-a-hyphenated-nickname.

"So, what are we purchasing today?" Harry asked the other two, he personally wanted to get a supply of potions ingredients as he made a lot of basic healing potions with them. Of the spare potions he had made during the year, he had given some to the enforcers and received many thanks when they proved effective. Harry thought it prudent to have as many connections as possible in the magus world and the enforcers were often overlooked by others.

Harry still had a supply of potions, five tubs of bruise balm, three bottles of wound cleansing potion, two bottles of a general anti-venom despite the fact he didn't really need it, five vials of blood replenishing potion, four vials of bone mending potion, ten doses headache cure and six bottles of pain relief potion. He wanted to keep himself well supplied and maintain an average of ten units of each, the practice would be good and he could give spares to the hospital wing, Madam Ponfrey had appreciated it last year.

"Well, we have to get our set books but aside from that I was going to look for introductory texts for the electives because we've got to choose them at the end of this year. I need to get a potion ingredient refill and I'm sure Harry does as well with the way the number of potions I've seen him make." Harry nodded at Hermione's words, he did make more potions during lesson in additional cauldrons that he set up.

"I'm going to get some treats for Trevor, he likes slugs and there are several magical variates that would improve his health and extend his lifespan." Hermione crinkled her nose, Harry didn't think that she liked slugs and probably thought of them as disgusting slimy things.

"Well, first thing's first. I'll need to go down to my vault and I'm sure Nev does too." The boy in question nods his head excitedly.

"Since my confidence has gotten better, I'm not so clumsy any more and Gran lets me look after my own key now!" He showed his vault key to them. "Do you have your key on you?" He asked of Harry.

Harry smirked, he now had an explanation why projecting his key was so taxing compared to his halberd or other weapons, that it was made of conjured gold held together by magic rather than actually being forged was the only reason he could actually project it. Hermione and Neville's eyes bugged out when Harry's key suddenly appeared on the table in front of him.

"How did you do that?" Hermione asked. Apart from the fact that conjuration was NEWT standard she was likely thinking about the laws of conjuration, one of which was the inability to conjure something that was inherently magical.

"Magic." Was Harry's simple answer, Hermione's glare only made him smile broader.

"I don't know whether to try and torture the truth out of or just give it up as a bad job." She said. "The former certainly has its merits but you simply don't make any sense and I'm starting to get used to it." Harry just had to chuckle at that, he viewed thaumaturgy as something that made far more logical sense than wizardcraft did, wizardcraft being his mental designation for what his birth world used.

"Well then, If we're all done then let's get going." Euryale said as she leaned over Harry's shoulder to address the three of them. Harry looked up and saw that Neville's Gran and Emma had stopped discussing the differences between wizarding and muggle law, Dan looked particularly exasperated by that, and all of them were now looking at the three pre-teens.

Harry looked at Neville and Hermione before downing what was left of his drink and saying. "I'm all ready, just these two left." Neville and Hermione soon followed suit and the group headed out into Diagon Alley.

xxxxx

The first place they headed was Gringotts, Harry and Neville were going to get some money from their vaults and Hermione's parents had to exchange their pounds for galleons. Harry and Euryale took one cart down to his vault while Neville and his Gran took another.

"See you out by the steps." Harry called over to Neville who nodded in reply.

Euryale seemed rather excited by the cart ride underground and Harry wondered how someone her age remained so energetic, he simply put it down to Euryale being Euryale. Harry remembered how much money was in his vault but this was Euryale's first time seeing it.

She whistled at the sight of so much gold. "I knew you had money Harry but this is a bit beyond what I was expecting."

Harry chuckled. "This is my rust vault Euryale, I can't access the family vault until I'm older." Euryale looked stunned at this, she looked back at the mounds of gold in his trust vault before looking back at him.

"Is gold not worth that much here?" She asked, there was so much of it that there had to be some reason a child had access to this fortune.

"By weight, the gold here would be worth about fifty pounds per coin but the exchange rate is five pounds per galleon. That is still a rather sizeable fortune so I understand your shock." Harry smirked at Euryale's expression as he felt Lancer and Berserker check his vault out.

_'most interesting, you are certainly rich master. Are you nobility of some kind?'_ Lancer sent a mental question to him.

_'I'm the heir of an Ancient and Noble house so I suppose that you could equate me with the nobility'_ It was true, he had a seat on the Wizengamot that he would inherit when he was older. That seat would remain unoccupied until he reached thirteen, an age where he could declare a proxy until he was of age himself.

_'So much!' _was all that could be heard from Berserker, she seemed rather surprised by it all. Harry guessed that he shouldn't be surprised seeing as how he didn't act or dress like nobility typically would, he preferred just being himself and so that is what he did.

Back on the surface, Harry waited with Hermione for Neville to come back from his vault, the latter was mumbling something about throttling Weasels. It turned out that Arthur Weasley, the father of Weasel and the 'twin terrors of Hogwarts', had been by and seen her parents exchanging money. Normally this wouldn't mean anything but Mr Weasley apparently had a fascination with all things muggle, an odd hobby for a wizard, and had pretty much dragged the Grangers off to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink. Hermione had told her parents that she would prefer to wait for her friends and had remained behind.

"Hey guys, where did Hermione's parents go?" Neville's greeting caught their attention and the situation was soon explained, Augusta Longbottom did huff about 'Arthur being beneath his wife's thumb' did amuse Harry however.

"So where to first Leaf?" Harry asked Neville, the others just looked at him in confusion. "I've just decided that your nickname is Leaf because of your love of plants, I'm bored so deal with it." Euryale just laughed, she was most familiar with Harry's seemingly random comments that he made.

"Oh? Who am I then?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow, Harry just smirked at her.

"Isn't it obvious? Books, for your love of books." Hermione just snorted, she should have expected I really, she did spend more time than anyone in the library after all.

"If I'm books then you are Myth, you always seem to know everything about Greek mythology" Harry nodded, he was fine with that and if he gave them nicknames out of the blue then they could do the same for him.

"So, where are the trio of Leaf, Book and Myth going first?" Euryale asked with a smile.

Hermione mentioned that her parents were going to meet up with her at Flourish and Blotts later so that was the last place they should go, Hermione seemed rather disappointed by this, Harry assumed it was because it was the bookshop, so they ended up going for potion ingredients first.

After filling up their kits with second year supplies, and Harry purchasing large amounts of ingredients for his own potions, they headed to the magical menagerie where Neville purchased some rather odd looking slugs for Trevor. The slugs came in a variety of colours and were apparently bred like that, the red ones would help if a toad was suffering from a fever, Harry had never heard of a toad even catching a fever, the blue ones apparently promoted healthy skin and the green ones were apparently a tasty treat, Harry decided to take their word for it as he had no intention of eating a slug ever.

They went by Madam Malkin's to get new robes as they had grown a fair bit over the last year. Harry was looking through materials when he came across something leathery and a quick structural analysis showed it was very receptive to reinforcement despite being rather tough already.

"Excuse me but what material is this?" He asked an assistant. Said assistant looked up at what material Harry had in his hand and simply replied with.

"Dragon skin, Ukrainian Ironbelly." Harry thought back to the books he'd read on dragons, the Ironbelly was named such because its blue-grey hide was the physically toughest out of all dragons but it was also the least spell resistant. The honour of most spell resistant went to Hungarian Horntails, which made them more dangerous than they already were.

Harry thought for a moment. "Could I get a long coat made out of this please?" It wouldn't be too expensive as Wizards never used physical weapons thus Ironbelly hide was relatively cheap.

"Twenty five galleons." The assistant said and Harry nodded before paying for it. He was soon being measured up and when all of that had been done he was told to return in three days for the coat.

_'Lancer, are you okay?'_ Harry had noticed how quiet the girl had gone and decided to ask about it.

_'Dragons really are different here, aren't they? Can you imagine someone using the hide of a phantasmal species for ordinary clothing?'_ Harry had to agree that the notion was ridiculous but he wondered why Lancer had such an obsession with dragons, she read about them and asked questions about them, now she had focused on the material of his clothing.

They soon had everyone's robes ready and packed into bags that had expansion charms on them, this seemed to fascinate Euryale and Harry could see the cogs spinning in her mind as she evaluated its 'prank potential'. Harry was so focused on trying to distract Euryale from whatever it was she was planning that he took a moment to notice the crowd gathered outside Flourish and Blotts.

Harry stopped mid-step as he tried to work out why so many people would be stood outside a bookshop and be as excited as they were. Harry then noticed they consisted mostly of women, teenage girls and those who could be mothers, then he caught sight of the glee in there eyes. If he didn't know better he would classify them as fangirls.

A poster in the shop window caught his eye.

"Books," Harry groaned as he turned to Hermione. "Don't tell me we're here today because of the blonde, foppish looking author." Looking at the gleam in her eyes, Harry already knew it was so.

"Come on Myth, he wrote pretty much the entire book list so he must be good." Harry thought about that, the only book that he hadn't written was the standard book of spells grade 2. Looking at Neville, Harry asked him.

"Don't tell me you're crushing on the guy too Leaf?" Neville's eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously.

"Not me! Gran has his household pests book at home but I've never read any of the others." Harry looked up at the regent Longbottom and cocked his head to one side.

"I've never had much time for reading so I've never thought to expand the library. Molly Weasley swears by the book so I bought it when we had an infestation of doxies once and it proved effective then, haven't touched it since so I couldn't say how good it really is." Harry nodded, that it proved effective against doxies was a good sign and served to ease a little of the disbelief he had when he'd seen the pretty boy on the poster.

The doors soon opened when Gilderoy Lockhart was ready to sign his autobiography, Magical Me, and the crowd flooded in. Hermione retrieved her course books before joining the queue for signatures, Harry and Neville both shook their heads as they went to the regular counter to purchase their textbooks without fanfare.

After the purchases were done, the two headed up the stairs to get away from the crush of bodies. Harry found a book on runes that he didn't have at home and decided to have a flick through that and see if it's any good, Neville found a tome on plants found in the Amazon to occupy his attention.

It was several minutes later that a cry of "Well, I'll be. Harry Potter!" Looking up from the book, Harry looked around and found the source of the voice to be Lockhart. The overly excited Hermione in front of him was probably the cause and Harry could already feel his frustration building.

That aggression probably wasn't helped by him ending up stood beside the blonde pretty boy, how he got there he really didn't know, but he decided to listen to what he was saying regardless.

"When Harry Potter and his friend Miss. Granger here stepped into this shop they thought they would be getting my books and quite possibly a signature. What they didn't realise and what I am proud to announce is that they will be getting more than just the autobiography, Magical Me, but the real thing. Yes, I have taken up the post of Defence against the dark arts for this year and will commemorate it by giving Harry here my complete works free of charge." Harry found the books dumped in his arms as Lockhart wrapped an arm around him.

Harry didn't like crowds and he didn't like this pushy pretty boy, the photo, that wasn't going to appear in the _prophet,_ depicted the popular Gilderoy Lockhart being thrown one-handed into the masses of witches that had come to see him. Harry Potter wasn't visible in the picture but a number of people in the shop could have sworn they saw a strange woman in some kind of muggle wedding dress.

xxxxx

Hidden away, back on the second floor and far away from the balcony, Harry Potter breathed a sigh of relief. _'Thanks for that Berserker, I was about to throttle the guy.'_ Harry said to the girl over their mental link.

_'Sure thing master, I felt your discomfort and acted on it.'_ The girl that only Harry could see blushed shyly when Harry smiled his thanks at her.

Harry spied a red-haired girl near the stairs, she looked a little familiar but harry didn't care right now, and dropped his books in her cauldron.

"Sorry about this but I already had my books, please enjoy." He smiled at the girl who was going a rather interesting shade of red before he retreated back to the second floor once again.

"You never get a break, do you?" Harry looked at a bemused Neville and sighed.

"It was so much easier last year when no one recognised me." Neville chuckled at his friend's moping.

A noise from downstairs drew their attention, it seemed Arthur Weasley had returned with Hermione's parents and who should he walk into but Lucius Malfoy. Even Harry knew of the enmity between the Weasleys and the Malfoys, he'd spent a year sharing classes with Weasel and Ferret after all, but he never thought they'd go so far as to brawl in a bookshop.

Harry narrowed his eyes, Lucius Malfoy was a Slytherin and an adult so this was especially unusual from him, he got the feeling Ferret senior was planning something. Neville explained what had started it, Harry's back had been to the railing, and apparently Malfoy had made a comment about the Weasley girl's books. Harry took note that she was the one he'd dropped Lockhart's books onto, he hoped she was more like the twins than the other Weasleys, he liked the twins yet he detested Weasel and was rather indifferent to Percy.

Neville told him how Mr Malfoy had then commented on how Mr Weasley was a disgrace to wizards, not a grave insult but certainly something that wouldn't be taken lying down, and that had prompted a fist fight between the two. Harry was already suspicious of a Slytherin instigating such a thing but him not using his wand was even more telling, wizards lived by their wands after all.

It was Hagrid that broke the two up and Lucius Malfoy thrust the Weasley girl's book back at her with another derogatory comment before they all left. Harry looked at the servants stood either side of him and asked them what their thoughts were.

_'He was obviously aiming to start a confrontation but for what I couldn't tell.'_ Lancer replied.

_'He focused on the girl, she was his target not her father. Be careful master, I don't know what is going on.'_ Berserker's observations made Harry's eyes narrow and he made a mental note to watch out for the girl when he got to Hogwarts this year.

"Come one Myth, everyone's leaving." Harry looked up at Neville before closing the rune book with a snap. He looked down towards where Hermione stood with her parents, Euryale and Augusta Longbottom before he made his way downstairs to purchase the tome.

He wondered what ridiculous situation he'd get into this year at Hogwarts, it seemed at least one person was already plotting something.


	20. Return to Hogwarts

AN: This chapter fought me all the way and even gave me a fight right up until the end. I don't know why but my brain turned to mush for this one and refused to cooperate. This has been the longest I've gone between updates so far and I'll make a promise that I will update at least once per week but hopefully more like twice a week with an extra one sneaking itself in there every now and then when I'm on a roll. I don't know how Dobby can really interfere with this Harry so if anyone has any suggestions then they'd be gratefully received, any ideas for pranks would also be welcome too. As always my forum can be found either on my profile or here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Beta'd by NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 20 – Return to Hogwarts

There was one thing that Harry hadn't thought about when he summoned his servants and that could be summed up with one word, Shopping.

He was currently being dragged from one department store to another while Lancer and Berserker tried on various clothes, more the former than the latter though there were several things that Berserker found rather cute. Harry had gotten used to stares being directed at him due to his own unusual garments and hair colour, his time at Hogwarts had been far easier than it otherwise might have been, so he simply told everyone who asked that the girls, particularly Lancer, were avid cosplayers who had dragged him along for the ride. He used this excuse so he wouldn't have to explain where their clothing designs came from, he didn't know much about gaming outside of what Waver had forced him to play.

"Master, does this look good on me?" That was another thing that got people's attention Two girls, both of whom looked to at least be in their late teens, calling a twelve year old boy master was causing a lot of raised eyebrows and unwanted questions. Harry kept telling the girls to call him Harry but Berserker seemed too shy to call him anything but master and Lancer's smile told him that she wasn't going to change any time soon.

Looking at what Lancer currently wore, Harry had to quickly avert his eyes as his face caught fire. It was a dress, though Harry would have called it a shirt, that hugged her body and left very little to the imagination. It was so short that even when standing he could almost see her striped panties, and what sort of hero of olden times wore modern underwear anyway?

"It looks fine Lancer, I don't suppose you'd prefer something a little more conservative though?" Harry had to ask, no matter how desperate the question sounded, he had to ask. So far on this shopping trip Lancer had seemed to find more and more risqué things to wear, except that she avoided anything that would put her lower back on display for some reason. Berserker had chosen several outfits as well but she seemed happier in far less revealing clothes than Lancer had chosen and looked to be quite fond of some summer dresses that Harry had purchased for her.

Harry had gotten a better understanding of his two servants since their summoning and found himself rather glad that these two had been the ones to answer his call. Lancer, while holding herself like a noble, was rather playful whenever the mood took her. She seemed rather happy as she was and seemed content with how her summoning had turned out, her wish was granted and she'd gotten herself a master that wouldn't treat her as a tool or weapon. There was one point of concern though when they'd been out late one night, pushing Harry's limits to see what they could do, when they had been accosted by a group of bullies who were obviously looking for a target and thought those three looked appropriate. Harry hadn't known that there existed that many ways to torture a human body without any devices when one of them went to manhandle her, Harry had gotten them out of there before it got too out of hand but when he'd looked back at her stats he wasn't surprised to see an A rank in Torture Technology. All in all, Lancer was a rather happy go lucky girl who was rather proud of her appearance. She had shown signs of sadism for those that crossed her and Harry was getting better at teaching her right from wrong, as a noble she'd never been told no before.

Berserker was completely different, she was shy. Trying to get her to talk was an effort in and of itself, she simply clammed up and hid her blushing face whenever anyone focused their attention on her. It had taken Harry several weeks to get her to speak to him, her master, without hiding herself away and it was something that Harry was glad he'd done. Berserker was an absolute goldmine of information on biology and physics but it was one particular skill of hers that Harry was really curious about, Galvanism. That was the ability to turn any magical attacks that involve no material existence into electricity, this meant that Berserker was practically immune to anything a wizard could throw at her. The only wizardcraft magic that could be used against her was banishing something at her, not something that would be effective against a heroic spirit, transfiguration which could prove troublesome if done correctly and enchanted objects. The three unforgivables, the worst the wizarding world had to offer was rendered completely useless against that! Harry was also interested in trying to figure out how it worked so he could use the concept to make muggle electronics work in magically saturated areas such as Hogwarts. As a person, her shy demeanour aside, Berserker seemed fond of intellectual debates and understanding human interactions, a subject she knew little about.

A tug at Harry's sleeve brought him out of his contemplation. Harry looked up into the mismatched eyes of Berserker, she shifted uneasily as her eyes darted to everyone else in the shop.

"Does master like my attire?" She asked quietly, barely above a whisper, and Harry took a step back to see what she had chosen this time.

Berserker's metal legs were left bare as there weren't any shoes durable enough for her, Harry was considering getting her some boots made from tough dragon hide that he would have enchanted. She wore a dress that was shorter than all of her previous choices, it ended just a little above her knees, and had a rather unusual design on it. It was mostly black but the lower left side had a design in neon blue that resembled circuitry, a rather appropriate design given her artificial appendages, a design that was replicated down the sleeve on the same side.

"It looks good on you and the imagery certainly matches." Harry told her honestly and the bright smile that appeared on her face told him that he'd said the right thing.

"Hey, what about this?" Harry turned around to find that Lancer had found something even more revealing than that skimpy dress from before. It was made of some kind of stretch material that made it act like a second skin, it had a deep V that ran down the front and back that stopped just above her belly button, there was a bit of fabric that was about three inches wide that joined the garment at breast level and the dress stopped on her upper thighs.

"I think that if you were wearing any less then you'd be naked." Harry stated flatly, what was it with this girl and showing her skin? He knew her wish would have been to maintain her youth and beauty indefinitely but she really shouldn't be showing it off like that, it was rather distracting to see her forked tail peeking out the bottom of whatever she was wearing.

She'd started off trying vibrantly coloured dresses but they had passed a shop with a TV in the window, that TV had been playing music videos. After seeing how the pop star had been dressed, Lancer had chosen more and more revealing outfits to show off, Harry was just glad that Berserker hadn't followed suit.

"Fine, I guess I can choose something a little more elegant." Harry sighed as Lancer went back to the changing room, he was fine with elegant but if she'd gone any further with what she had been wearing then he was going to put his foot down.

"Thank you Master." Harry turned to Berserker who was looking up at him, her bangs hanging down either side of her face for a change.

"There's no need to thank me, I'm just doing what anyone would do." He thought that's all he was doing anyway, he'd summoned these girls here so he should look after them to the best of his ability.

"No, there is. Before I died, I loved someone. He didn't like that, I scared him and he took me apart before he fled. I put myself back together and followed my instincts, they led me to him and I killed his family. I had learned why he rejected me, I am a monster, a cursed existence no matter how I wish I were otherwise, it drove me mad." Harry looked at the sad girl before him and stepped forward, embracing her as she told her story.

"I followed him and he eventually went mad, claiming his own life. I had nothing left once he was gone and I drowned myself, I was something that should never have existed in the first place." Harry stepped back and put both of his hands on her shoulders, looking right at her he stated in a clear and firm voice.

"What you were before doesn't matter. What you did doesn't matter. I will only ever treat you as I think you should be treated, that will be based off my experiences with you. That isn't to say that I'd accept you going around and murdering people but I wont hold your past against you, no matter what it's like." Berserker looked at his face for a moment and a small sad smile found its way onto her face.

"I hope you still feel that way after the dream cycle shows you my past." Harry remained silent, nothing he could say would change how she thought, not until he'd seen her past. A hand on his shoulder brought Harry's attention back to his other servant. Lancer was dressed in a more normal dress this time, it would be completely normal if it wasn't for the thick leather straps across it.

"I hope that you think the same of me after the dream cycle too. The way people are treated today is very different to my time and things I did before would be most reprehensible now. I never thought of things from another point of view, I was never told not to do something, everything I wanted I could get easily. My past wont ever change but I'd like it if you could look past that too." Harry looked at both of his servants, really looked at them and forgot for a moment that they were 'heroes' of a past age.

Berserker was shy and vulnerable, she had been rejected by one she cared about, and what was that about being taken apart? She was quiet and reserved and she wanted someone to care about her as a person, not a thing.

Lancer held herself with the pride of a noble but she also craved attention, Harry thought she'd probably been ignored in her past life. She freely admitted she'd done things that would be considered wrong in modern times but she'd told him regardless, she'd obviously taken his lessons on human rights to heart.

Both girls could quite easily be described as monsters, they looked the part and they had both admitted that their past wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Harry thought of himself as a monster but that was what he had decided himself, no one else had applied that term to him. Harry closed his eyes for a moment, he thought of what would define a monster. Regret wouldn't be something a monster was capable of and both of these girls had desires they wanted fulfilled, he supposed that that gave a case against being something evil and Harry didn't equate monster with evil.

"I call myself a monster but that doesn't mean I am evil, I simply see things differently than others do. I was once told that I was like a natural predator, following the laws of the wild and if that is how I am perceived then so be it. Being a monster isn't necessarily a bad thing and I don't think I'll be reprimanding you two any time soon so you have nothing to worry about." Harry stood there with one hand on Lancer's shoulder and one hand on Berserker's shoulder and all three had small smiles on their faces.

'Click'

The three of them turned to one side to see Zelretch with a camera in his hands. He lowered the camera and looked at the three of them with a silly grin on his face.

"What? It was such a good opportunity." Lancer and Berserker had their faces down and covered by their fringes while Harry had developed a twitch.

"How long have you been following us?" Harry's voice was deathly cold, so cold in fact that you would swear that the ground around him was freezing over but that was impossible, right?

Zelretch didn't drop his smile one bit, no, it seemed to actually grow a little. "All day actually and may I say what cute pictures I've managed to get!"

That was the day that a certain shopping centre in London saw a rather odd sight, an old man being chased down the street by two rather odd girls. Though cackling madly, Zelretch hadn't been expecting Harry to be waiting for him when he reached the clock tower and he had brought Altrouge and Arcueid with him too.

"You've been a bad man Gramps."

xxxxx

It was a rather excited Hermione that was chatting with Neville Longbottom in the Leaky Cauldron on September first, they had decided to all meet up and go to King's Cross together. The two of them were currently waiting for Harry to turn up as they had already said goodbye to their own respective guardians, Hermione's parents had a busy day at their dental clinic and Neville's Gran had a Wizengamot meeting to attend.

The two of them had been talking about their new Defence instructor, Gilderoy Lockhart, and all of the amazing achievements that had been written in his books. Hermione was getting rather starry-eyed about the man while Neville was trying to calm her down when the door opened and Harry walked into he room.

"Harry!" Neville called, grateful for something with which to distract Hermione. Said girl looked up with a smile on her face only to have her expression morph to one of concern when she noticed Harry was rubbing his stomach.

"Is everything alright Harry?" She asked a little bit of worry for her first friend. Harry looked over at the two and smiled before making his way over to them.

"I'm fine, Gramps said something about an appropriate gift that 'required preparation'. We removed two of my ribs and he took some of my blood too, I have a dose of skele-gro to take tonight so I'll be fine." Harry looked at the book Hermione had open on the table. "The Lockhart books? You've been reading up on our new professor I see."

The gleam in Hermione's eyes and the resignation in Neville's made Harry cock his head to one side, that was all he had time for because he was almost inundated by Hermione singing the man's praises. Harry looked at Neville and the boy just shook his head at the young hybrid, it looked like this had been the topic of conversation for quite some time.

Harry simply tuned her out while he ordered breakfast, he'd read the set texts and had found some rather obvious inconsistencies but there was no way he was going to get through to her while she was like this. Harry simply let her talk at him while he waited for his egg, bacon and sausage breakfast to arrive and shared a commiserating look with Neville. When Hermione stopped to take a breath, much later than Harry expected, he managed to ask Neville a question.

"So Neville, I know that Hermione's parents have their practice that's preventing them from seeing her off but what is the Wizengamot meeting about?" Harry looked in surprise as the boy actually frowned at that, he didn't look happy.

"Actually, it's about you." Harry cocked his head to one side, a Wizengamot meeting about him? Why? Neville decided to elaborate. "Well, you are the boy-who-lived and everyone wants to know about you. Before, after that Halloween, you were hidden away and Dumbledore assured everyone that you were in a safe place. The difference now is that you aren't anything like what they'd been led to believe and they want to know why, Rita Skeeter's articles lately haven't helped and, unlike before, Dumbledore is keeping silent."

Dumbledore keeping silent wasn't unexpected but this interest in him was disconcerting, he wondered what they were discussing and how it might impact him. Neville was currently his only source of information and decided to put the questions to him.

"I don't really know." Neville replied. "I know that they're looking at things in the hall of records but I don't know what they can do or even what they're thinking of doing. Dumbledore said you were living with Muggles before under wards and the only reason that no one did anything was because they didn't know where you were and the muggles were apparently your closest living relatives, family is important in the wizarding world."

Harry nodded then asked, "What's the hall of records? What information do they have?" He'd never heard of it but it was probably a department in the Ministry of Magic.

"It's where the records of all witches and wizards in Britain are kept. Magical parents are legally required to register their children and the records themselves stretch back to before the founders themselves. I think they're looking through the Potter records to see if they can find how you're related to your guardians." Harry didn't like the sound of that.

"Are they really allowed to do that? It sounds like the sort of information that shouldn't be out in the open. Regardless of that, Stheno and Euryale are Greek so they wouldn't be in the British records and Zelretch is German so neither should his." Harry was wondering how these records worked in terms of muggle-borns and squibs as well.

"The records are available to the public unless they get sealed but no one really bothers looking through them apart from when a birth is registered. Wizarding Britain's relations with other countries isn't the greatest right now apart from France so I don't think they'll find anything they can use." Harry wasn't finished with his questions yet though.

"How are the records updated? Is it done magically or is it up to the ministry workers?" Harry was wondering if this was how they identified muggle-borns or whether that was done by Hogwarts.

"The records are sorted magically but that's it, it's left up to the parent to register their child and legal action can be taken against those that don't. It's used by purebloods to keep track of how closely related they are so they don't end up marrying too closely in the family." Hermione looked a little disgusted at that.

"What do you mean by 'marrying too closely in the family'?" She asked, Harry had forgotten that Hermione didn't know about the way purebloods kept their blood 'pure'. Neville shifted in his seat nervously and he looked imploringly at Harry.

Sighing, Harry answered her question. "Hermione, I'm sure you've noticed by now that there are three separate distinctions between the students. There are purebloods, half-bloods and muggle-borns, the last of which are derogatorily referred to as mudbloods. Muggle-borns are rather self-explanatory, they have no magical parentage. Half-bloods are those that have at least one magical grandparent and purebloods are those with four magical grandparents. The most common are half-bloods but if it wasn't for the previous dark lords targeting them and the prejudice against them then it would probably be muggle-borns."

"What do you mean about the prejudice?" Hermione interrupted Harry's explanation, although it was a valid question.

"Without a patron, a muggle-born is unlikely to rise particularly high within the Ministry's ranks and you've seen first-hand the prejudice that a number of purebloods have against muggle-borns in the likes of Malfoy and others. There are those that say they are all for equality but still think themselves better because they have magic, an example of that would be the Weasleys. The Weasleys, unlike the Malfoys, don't actively discriminate against muggle-borns and muggles but see them as those in need of protection, similar to how the muggle world treats people in wheelchairs and the like." Harry paused to make sure she understood what he was saying.

Hermione nodded her understanding so he continued. "Right, so half-bloods make up the majority of the wizarding world and if it wasn't for wars and prejudice causing them to leave the country then it would be muggle-borns. The smallest of the three are the purebloods, those with all magical grandparents. The thing is, there are those that think that if you know how closely related to muggles you are then you're not a pureblood, those people only allow their children to marry people who also qualify as their version of pureblood. This means that there are very few options available to them and it isn't a coincidence that nearly all of wizarding Britain is related to everyone else in one way or another."

Hermione's face was one of disgust and Harry didn't blame her, it wasn't the most pleasant of thoughts in his opinion. "I think I'll avoid marrying a pureblood myself, I could end up related to Ferret!" Harry wasn't happy with that.

"Thanks for that Hermione." She looked confused for a moment. "My father was a pureblood and because of that I am related to Malfoy. My grandmother was a Black and his mother was as well, my grandmother's niece actually which makes us cousins of sorts."

Hermione patted his arm in sympathy, being related to Draco Malfoy wasn't something he wanted to even think about much less acknowledge. Harry glared at Neville for making him explain that but it would probably have been more effective if he wasn't wearing a blindfold, a fact which Neville reminded him of.

"Being glared at by a guy in a blindfold really isn't as intimidating as it otherwise would be." Neville said with amusement. Hermione's lip quirked upwards at that , Harry simply let out a humph and settled in to wait for his breakfast which soon arrived at their table.

Harry enjoyed his meal while he had a mental conversation with his two astralised servants, the two of them had been looking closely at those their master called friend.

_'Bushy-head is most curious isn't she? She is rather scholarly if annoying.'_ Lancer shared her opinion on Hermione first, _'the other boy seems to be coming out of a shell, there are signs of him being rather submissive but they're more habit than anything now'._

Berserker added her bit. _'I agree. The girl has a rather large dose of curiosity, she would have gotten along well with my creator, and the boy seems to be gaining some confidence.'_

Harry was wondering how long it would take him to be able to communicate with them without gestures as he had to stop himself from turning to face them as they spoke.

_'The girl is Hermione, she's the daughter of two dentists and is pretty much the stereotype of a bookworm. The boy is Neville and his grandmother wanted him to be like her son, to the extent of using his wand which was a bad match for him. He was really nervous last year but he's gaining in confidence and has fewer and fewer regressions, his Gran has noticed the change too and is proud of him now, I suppose his high grades helped that.' _Harry informed the two, they hadn't seen Hermione and Neville before and Harry appreciated a completely unbiased opinion on the two.

Hermione and Neville had once again become embroiled in a conversation about Lockhart, a topic Harry was going to avoid for now until he'd experienced the man's teaching methods. Harry thought about how the Wizengamot's current discussions could affect him, it wasn't like they had the power to dictate anyone's life or anything but they were the ones who wrote the laws and sat in judgement of criminals.

Investigating into his records, like Neville said they were, was a good idea. It would have been even better if they included muggle-borns into them but by the sounds of it they only deal with second generation magicals onwards. It would seem that a trip to Gringotts might be in order to leave them a trail that will satisfy them.

Neville and Hermione took notice when their third companion suddenly stood up and started walking towards the back of the pub, he had seemed to be lost in thought while they had been discussing Lockhart.

"Harry, where are you going? We're taking Neville by muggle transport today, remember? We have to get a bus in an hour to get to the station on time." Hermione called out, making Harry stop in his tracks for a moment.

"I just have to take care of something at Gringotts, I'll be back soon so you two can just stay here while I take care of it." Harry replied, calling back over his shoulder.

Hermione and Neville looked at each other and blinked, what did Harry need to take care of that he'd left it until the day they returned to Hogwarts?

xxxxx

Taking a quick stroll down Diagon Alley, Harry soon arrived at Gringotts. Approaching the the closest available teller, Harry didn't miss both of his servants tense up for a moment at the sight of the goblins.

_'What is it?'_ He queried.

_'Even with you telling me what to expect they are rather unusual looking'_ Harry stopped for a moment to look at Lancer, her punk hair, her claws, tail and fangs as well as her strange dress.

_'Really? You're really saying that?'_ Harry simply shook his head before stepping up to the teller, conveniently ignoring the now sulking spirit.

"Excuse me but is it possible to speak with RipSnout?" The goblin teller looked up at Harry, it was rather odd to ask for a goblin by name rather than as manager of a client's accounts. That lasted until the goblin noticed who it was that had asked, the goblins had all gotten a good laugh out of how far out of wizard control Mr. Potter had gotten.

"If you'll wait a moment I shall check to see if he will receive you." Harry nodded as the goblin left his desk for a moment, presumably to check with RipSnout about seeing him. As he waited, Harry glanced around the room. As expected, the alley was relatively quiet, it was the day that everyone went back to Hogwarts after all. There was a handful of people in the alley that weren't taking children back to school and the atmosphere was a lot more relaxed, almost lazy actually.

Harry was brought out of his contemplation as the goblin returned. The teller sat back on his raised seat and told Harry "RipSnout will see you, GripHook will show you the way." Harry thanked the goblin before following GripHook out of the room and down the corridors towards RipSnout's office.

As GripHook stopped outside of RipSnout's office, Harry wondered what the goblin could actually do. He would be able to provide advice though as this wasn't a situation that Harry had ever envisioned himself to be in, not that he would ever leave his family as he would simply return to the clock tower and never come back to this dimension if it came to it.

Walking into the room, Harry took notice of RipSnout sat on his seat, the same as the last time he was here, and saw as the goblin finished whatever he was doing and set his quill down. The goblin looked up at his visitor and asked "What service do you require of me Mr. Potter?"

"I have found out something that I need advice on and I believe that you are the best equipped to advise me. I have been told that the Wizengamot is meeting today and they are investigating what connection my guardians have with me. You were the one that Zelretch originally contacted and you know of my unique circumstances so I wish to ask what I should do seeing as they won't find anything by searching through the hall of records that would link me to them." RipSnout looked thoughtful for a moment before asking.

"You obviously don't want them to know about the matter concerning alternate realities so that will leave a few holes that someone could see through, the name Shweinorg is German so that should really be easily traced and Stheno and Euryale are Greek names. Waver Velvet is english and therefore should be able to be found by the Wizengamot so that would be problematic." He looked at the boy in front of him. "The best thing to do would be to tell them about the blood adoption but that has the complications of which country allowed it to happen as well as several other things regarding the legality of it."

Harry had to ask. "What can they actually do to me? What authority does the Wizengamot have over my guardianship?" That was what he was really concerned about.

The goblin folded his arm and sat backwards in his chair. "Normally, not a lot. The problem here is that you are the boy-who-lived and that will attract a certain amount of attention, people will want to shape and mould you into something they can use to their own benefit. If they find evidence of abuse at home then they can remove you from that environment and make you a ward of the Wizengamot, the problem there is the chief warlock had supposedly seen to your safety for the last decade so they would be treated as a part of the problem. You will have to wait and see but rest assured that I too will keep an ear open for any news regarding this case." Harry nodded his head in thanks.

"If anything turns up would you please owl me whatever ideas you have?" Harry asked to which RipSnout agreed. "I must get back then, I don't want to be late for the Hogwarts Express." The two bid farewell to each other and he astralised servants fell into flanking positions either side of him.

_'He noticed something was off, did you see the way his eyes darted about the place?'_ Lancer asked.

_'The goblins are closer to magic than wizards and witches, they can feel things like that while wizards are oblivious and ignorant of them'_ Harry replied, Lancer acknowledged he had a point.

_'Are there many others who will be able to sense things like that in the wizarding world?'_ Berserker queried and Harry thought about it for a moment before replying.

_'Animagi, that means those who can transform into animals, are supposed to have improved reactions depending on their form. I don't suppose it would be too far out of there to think that they might listen to their instincts more than others, werewolves are a given because of the nature of Lycanthropy. There are a number of beings known as veela that reside in several countries, not England as they are rather racist, and they might be able to sense something but without asking one I couldn't be certain.'_ Harry thought that there were probably others but those three were the ones they were most likely to encounter in Europe and Harry not no particular interest in travelling abroad.

Harry, Lancer and Berserker soon found themselves back out in the alley itself and Harry noted that they had fifteen minutes before he had to meet up with Hermione and Neville. Looking at the two servants, he saw that they were looking at a few of the shops curiously. Harry sighed before saying. "I'll take you shopping at Christmas but right now I'm going to pick up the dragon hide long coat I had made."

Harry had received a letter from Madam Malkin's that told him the coat he'd ordered was ready and he'd sent them a symbol that he asked to have displayed on the back, they'd done so after colouring the hide black as he had also asked and he was eager to see the results. Madam Malkin's was the last shop on the left before you reached the Leaky Cauldron so he walked quickly to his destination.

A bell rang as Harry stepped into the shop and an employee standing at the register looked up, probably surprised to see such a young customer today. "May I help you?" She asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "I received a note that told me that my order was ready for me to pick up."

"What order was that then?" She asked as she stepped back to reach under the counter for the packages that were ready for retrieval.

"It's under the name Potter, a dragon hide muggle long coat that has been coloured black with a red emblem on the back of it." Harry told her and as expected her eyes widened before looking back up at him, he hated how people reacted to his name.

"Yes sir, right away sir." She looked through the tags on the packages until she found the one labelled 'Potter, Ten Galleons to pay'. She brought it up and Harry paid for it before opening the package and unrolling the coat, coming face to face with the Gorgon's eye. Harry was pleased by the coat, the blue-grey of the original hide was now a matte black that would blend well with shadows with silver buttons keeping it closed, the symbol of the Gorgons displayed proudly on the back.

"Thank you." Harry said as he slung the coat over his shoulders and slipped his arms into the sleeves, he would sew runes into the lining later. He left the shop and returned to the Leaky Cauldron where Hermione was checking her watch.

"Come on Harry, we're showing Neville what muggle public transport is like today, remember? We really shouldn't hang around any longer." She then took notice of the coat he was wearing. "That's nice but what is that emblem for?" she pointed to the back as Harry picked up his trunk from where he'd left it, on the floor next to their table.

"It doesn't matter right now, let's ask Tom the barman if he wouldn't mind putting a feather-light charm on our trunks, three hours should be long enough to guarantee that we're on the train before it wears off." She nodded at Harry before going to the bar to ask the question, the barman agreed and soon the three of them had their trunks lightened and were heading out of the door and into the muggle world.

The three of them caught a bus heading in the direction of King's Cross, Neville was amazed by everything but managed to keep his excitement under control. The three of them chose seats at the back of the the bus and spoke in low voices, Harry was simply grateful that muggle buses didn't jump around like the Knight Bus did and that the driver actually could drive.

Hermione was busy explaining bus routes and timetables to the pureblood while Harry kept an eye out while conversing with Berserker and Lancer, he had an uneasy feeling that he was being watched but he couldn't work out who and where they were watching him from.

It was at times like this that Harry wished he was better at detecting prana, some people were really good at it and could identify where and what sort of thaumaturgy was being used in their vicinity almost instantly. Prana detection usually manifested as one of the five regular senses, touch, smell, sight, sound and taste although scent, touch and sight were the most common. Harry detected prana as more of an abstract sensation, it was very imprecise and unreliable for anything that his element and origin didn't cover. If it was someone he was familiar with then he would simply know where they were as long as they were within about a kilometre of him, rather like a radar, but if it was someone who he just hadn't had much contact with then he wouldn't know a thing until they revealed themselves to his regular senses. He could detect and understand prana signatures quite easily with structural analysis but he couldn't exactly go around touching and scanning everything he came across, it was inefficient and unrealistic.

Harry was working on a project that would allow him to detect changes in air pressure around him, it was rather useless at present as even a gentle breeze made it go haywire and he was pants at detecting small changes. Harry's senses had twitched at him during the fight that between Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley in Flourish and Blotts and for some reason he was hesitant to attach it to either Ferret or Weasel, it had felt both more familiar and far more malicious. Harry shook his head, perhaps someone had been under an invisibility cloak but that sounded ridiculous even to himself, he would keep an eye out this year and he was more than thankful that he had Lancer and Berserker to watch his back in addition to Len.

Harry caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned, only to see children chasing each other down the street. He was getting jumpy now and really should calm his nerves, this feeling of being watched was unnerving for him. Harry wasn't used to people trying to sneak up on him, Altrouge and the others aside when they were being playful and childish.

They soon arrived at King's Cross when it turned quarter to eleven and hurried into the station. Harry noticed the gathering of redheads in front of them, it looked like the Weasleys had arrived just before. He had seen them all pile out of a Ford Anglia, though he didn't understand how the entire family had fit inside that small car. Harry at least know about expansion charms but how did they work when you took into account people looking into or out of the car windows and windscreens, it didn't make much sense to him.

They pushed their trolleys after the family of redheads up to the barrier between platforms nine and ten, there was ten minutes until the train set off and the Weasley matron was hurrying her children through when her sixth son, Weasel himself called out.

"I've left my wand in the car!" he cried and Harry had to roll his eyes, what kind of idiot left their sole weapon and means of defence lying around unattended. He couldn't fathom the concept of a magus leaving their mystic code behind in the cafeteria or something, it was simply unthinkable.

"Well hurry up and go get it, I'm not hanging around here waiting for you!" Molly Weasley shouted at the idiot who shot off, presumably to retrieve his wand as she pushed her daughter through to the platform. Harry, Neville and Hermione wheeled their trolleys up to the barrier and pushed up against it.

It was lucky they weren't rushing up to it at full speed as they all bounced off the now solid wall. They pulled themselves together and made sure that everything was secure on their trolleys as Harry walked up to the wall and laid a hand on it.

A quick flash of structural analysis let Harry 'see' the structure of the barrier, it was still there but something seemed to be holding it shut. Looking closer at the binding, Harry recognised the prana signature that he'd become used to in the castle and especially the kitchens. It seemed like a house-elf had barricaded the platform against them and while Harry could put up some rather formidable boundary fields, breaking them down was something else.

"The barrier has been sealed, it looks like we're not getting through this way." Harry informed the other two. Neville started panicking while Hermione tried to think of what hey should do.

"If only we had an owl then we could send a message to someone telling them what's happening, I'm sure that someone could come and help us." Hermione thought out loud. Harry wrinkled his nose, he wasn't very fond of owls. Aside from them being Athena's sacred animal, he had found them too haughty and proud for his liking.

"What the hell are you three doing hanging around?" It seemed that Weasel had returned from fetching his wand. "Never mind." He said as he ran head first at the barricade, brushing off what Hermione and Neville were trying to tell him.

To be fair, he did bounce back quite spectacularly. Harry found the sprawled out boy to be rather amusing but it seemed Hermione didn't share in his amusement even if he did see Neville's lip quirk upwards slightly.

"We tried to warn you, couldn't you have paid us just a little bit of attention?" Hermione chastised the injured boy that was now swearing profusely as he picked himself up off the floor and putting everything back on his trolley.

"I didn't expect that to happen now, did I?" He replied, Harry thought it not worth the effort to point out that that was exactly what his two friends had been trying to warn him about.

"Well why don't you run along and wait by your car, I'm sure your parents would prefer you to be somewhere you could easily be found." Harry told him, it was a sensible solution and one not available to them since they'd come without their parents. It was the only advice that he felt like giving to someone he disliked.

"The car!" He called out, rather loudly too and it drew the attention of everyone nearby. Weasel then shot looks at the three of them, rather superior if Harry thought about it and almost a smirk.

"I think that's exactly what I'll do." He said to Harry. It couldn't be more obvious he was planning something, Harry didn't think the word subtle could be found in Ronald Weasley's vocabulary and even if it was, the boy hadn't found a definition to match it.

The three of them watched the redhead push his trolley away and back to the parking area, a skip in his step, before Hermione looked at her watch and then at the two boys with her.

"It's about ten seconds until eleven! We'll never make it on time!" She seemed to be slightly hysterical about that, Harry supposed that she had never even turned up late for a lesson so missing the school train would be something she'd really want to avoid.

Harry sighed before looking at the two humans with him. "There's a notice-me-not tied into the barrier that activates whenever someone passes through it, we'll have to find somewhere where people aren't paying any attention. Come on, I'll get us to Hogwarts before the train arrives, don't worry."

Harry started walking out of the station with Hermione and Neville in tow, the two of them exchanging glances between themselves. They arrived outside just in time to see the Weasley car rise into the air and turn invisible, judging by the shocked looks of a few muggles nearby they hadn't been the only ones to see it.

A flying car wasn't something that Harry had expected, it piqued his interest. He would have to try and get a look at it at some point, he was curious how the muggle mechanics of the vehicle interacted with magical spell structures and whether the car ran off magic or if it simply augmented it. There was an array of questions that he had about such a contraption and he would very much like the answers to those questions.

Harry watched as the car disappeared into the clouds That invisibility needed work, you could still see the car's outline and it still cast a shadow. Looking around, Harry spotted a deserted alleyway and headed towards it. Once in said alleyway, a quick structural analysis told him that there were no cameras in the area and the only living things were rodents and vermin.

"Alright Harry, no one can see us now. Can you please tell us how we're supposed to get to school like this?" Hermione asked rather insistently, he supposed that he shouldn't blame her with how things looked to her right now.

"You both have your trunks and everything you need, correct?" Harry asked the two and received positive responses after they both checked themselves. "Then let us go to Hogwarts."

Hermione was about to open her mouth and ask how he thought standing in an alley would get them to school when she realised that she wasn't in an alley any more but on the school grounds, right outside the front doors in fact. She looked from a smirking Harry Potter to the castle doors, back to the smirking boy-who-really-deserves-a-punch and back to the doors before whirling back to Harry.

"How is this possible? One, we're too young to apparate. Two, you need to be in physical contact for it to work. Three, it's impossible to apparate to or from Hogwarts' grounds and four, apparition is supposed to have an unpleasant sensation and I felt nothing!" Harry's smirk just grew.

"Who said that was apparition?" He asked calmly, watching Hermione's expression cycle through shock, annoyance, irritation, confusion and finally determination was something that amused the hybrid considerably.

"Let's just go in." Neville said, ever the peacemaker.

Harry nodded as he stepped up to the large doors and knocked with a reinforced fist, that would make the noise louder than he would have otherwise been capable of. They didn't have to wait long as the doors were soon opened by professor Mcgonagall, she raised an eyebrow at the three students standing on the steps before her.

"May I ask why you three thought it necessary to come straight to Hogwarts when you should currently be on the Express? I do believe that it isn't far out of London right now." Her tone was rather disapproving and Neville looked down at his feet while Hermione blushed bright red, Harry was unaffected by it and simply answered her question.

"The barrier at the platform was sealed shut before we had a chance to pass through. We would have sent an owl to contact someone but none of us has an owl with us. Without knowing how long the barrier would remain sealed or how people on the other side would return through it rather than apparate or the like, we decided that arriving at Hogwarts in as timely a manner as possible was the best solution." Harry explained, it was all true but he hadn't told her about how they'd arrived. Judging from her arched eyebrow she'd noticed the lack of detail but refrained from asking about it, for which Harry was grateful.

"Very well," She said, "Can I assume that you have all of your belongings on you?" The three of them showed her their trunks before telling her that they'd asked the barman of the Leaky Cauldron to charm them feather-light and it would wear off before too long.

"You may go and put your trunks in your dorms, you have the same rooms as last year and the password for Gryffindor is 'wattle bird'. I trust that you will not abuse your knowledge of this password Mr. Potter?" Harry looked her directly in the eye as he replied.

"No professor, Hermione already knows how to enter the Hufflepuff common room as well as where it is so I know no more about entering her dormitory than she does about mine." He decided to leave out that he'd worked out which tower was Gryffindor's as well as the fact that here was a skylight which had lost its latch and thus could not be locked, that was unnecessary additional information.

"I understand. You may do as you wish until tonight's feast but I expect you in robes for it, not dressed as you are." She looked each of them up and down and seemed particularly interested in the coat Harry was wearing. Before she left, Harry decided that he'd best tell her about her own idiotic student.

"Before you go professor, there was another student that was prevented from passing through the barrier. Ronald Weasley, second year student of your house, seems to believe that flying a partially invisible car was a good idea in lieu of using the train." Harry saw Mcgonagall's face twist into a grimace as she stopped in her tracks.

"Understood Mr. Potter. I'd best inform the obliviators, Mr. Weasley's father was only average at charms and his fascination with muggle things would probably cloud his judgement on such an issue." She stalked off up the stairs while the three students looked at each other.

"So what are you two going to do until the feast?" Neville asked nervously. Harry looked at the poor boy and decided to include him in his plans.

"Well, since I doubt Madame Pince would like to see us in the library before the school year has officially begun, I think that we should all go and unpack and when I'm done I'll come visit you in Gryffindor tower and we'll play a few rounds of exploding snap or some other things to pass the time." Neville looked relieved that he wouldn't have to find something to do alone while Hermione looked put out that she couldn't just visit the library and gorge herself on books, they both agreed regardless.

Harry quickly walked towards the basement, where the Hufflepuff common room was, as he mentally conversed with his two servants. He was trying to mentally impart on them the innumerable passages and stairways within the school so they wouldn't get lost, he also had a few rules and guidelines as well.

_'The portraits can move and speak, I wouldn't be surprised if they reported anything unusual to the headmaster or someone so if you have to materialise then please avoid anywhere with portraits'_ The two girls answered in the affirmative, they would avoid the paintings whenever possible.

_'Another thing I'm curious about is the nature of the local ghosts. They are unlike anything in our world and most people can't make physical contact with them, I can and I can also see them when they are supposed to be completely invisible. It might be a side effect of my element and origin but most of them are wary of me because of it, one exception to that rule is the Grey Lady, the resident ghost of Ravenclaw house, she is something of a friend to me.' _Once again, neither girl had any issue in that regard.

_'I also want to keep on top of my thaumaturgy practice. Last year I was an idiot and did it down by the lake where I could be easily seen, this year I am probably going to move it into the forest. There is an acromantula colony in the forest, an acromantula is a giant magical spider, and the forest's consciousness doesn't like them being there. We can do the forest a favour and keep up on my training if we launch several skirmishes into their colony over the year and reduce their numbers.'_ Harry was sure that one of them would object to him putting himself in danger like that and was prepared to argues his case. It was unnecessary however as neither vocalised an opinion counter to that.

_'I am rather surprised that you're not chastising me for putting myself in danger, is there any particular reason that you two are keeping so silent?'_ Harry inquired and it was several moments before he got a reply.

_'I feel that you are strong, master. If you are strong then I see no reason for you to not fight, it is the easiest way to prepare you for anything that the future may hold and the more experience you have the better, it's better to do so now while you can be dragged away to recover by one of us than it is to learn on a battlefield where a mistake means death'_ Lancer's answer intrigued him as she didn't seem like someone that knew war but then again, politics was sometimes referred to as a more polite war so a noble woman would understand something about tactics.

_'All of this is somewhat overwhelming'_ Berserker added _'It is one thing to be told of all of these seemingly impossible things and another to experience it first hand. These talking and thinking portraits are the sort of thing that my creator would have been rather interested in and the ambient prana in the area is quite heavily saturated, I should be able to function quite adequately here even without a contract due to my galvanism making me one of the most efficient servants there is.'_ Harry understood what she was talking about, he had to restrain his excitement when he'd gotten his first book of magic from his birth world and been thoroughly disappointed with how basic the magical theory seemed to be, they didn't even make muse use of ambient mana, leaving it for things like self charging runic arrays and nothing else.

Harry soon made it to his own room and used structural analysis on his trunk to identify the appropriate bindings that attached the feather-light charm to his trunk and purposefully overloaded them with prana until they broke leaving him with the sudden weight of his trunk.

Placing the trunk on the floor, Harry quickly retrieved what he was looking for within namely the items he had used last year for his bounded fields. He set up all but the one for house-elves and once he'd done all but that he analysed his room in search of any monitoring magic that might have been set up since he took them down.

Harry's face burned in anger as he tore apart a charm that recorded anything visual that went on in the room, the fourth such charm that he'd found and he knew there were at least a half dozen more. The prana signature on all of them pointed in only one direction, Dumbledore. What kind of homosexual paedophile records twelve year old boys when they think they're alone in a room?

Once the last of them had been disposed of, Harry called out for a Hogwarts house-elf and one appeared before him. It was a male with the usual large bat-like ears and rather wrinkly look similar to what happens to your hands when you leave them in water too long, he was wearing the traditional tea-towel that all Hogwarts elves wore with the school logo stamped on the breast.

"Can Flippy help Mr. Harry Potter sir?" The elf asked. This was one that Harry was familiar with after his frequent contact with the elves in the kitchens last year and Harry had actually liked Flippy's somewhat eccentric colouring, his bulbous eyes were a rather distinctive pink and his hair was more silver than grey, it turned out that Flippy was essentially the same as an albino.

"Yes Flippy, do you think you could squeeze an extra two beds in here?" He would have asked for three but Len had always curled up with him even when she had the option available and Harry saw no reason to break that particular habit, he found being snuggled up with someone else to be rather warm and comforting.

"Yes sir Harry Potter sir. Flippy will just need to modify the expansion charm slightly and it'll be as good as you want it sir." The elf nodded his head before snapping his fingers and the room expanded around them until it was almost twenty five metres square.

"That is as much stress as the charms can take sir, is it good enough for you?" Harry told him it was before dismissing him once the extra beds were in the room. Harry reached into his bag and brought out several blocks of wood that he began to transfigure into traditional japanese style walls that he could use to keep everyone separate, Lancer didn't seem to care much about modesty but Berserker sure did.

He spent several minutes at this, reinforcing the charms so the walls wouldn't revert back into their original shape any time soon. Harry was rather pleased with his work and soon set up the bounded field to prevent house-elves gaining access whenever they want before disappearing off to Gryffindor tower to see how Neville and Hermione were getting along with things.

He found them pointing their wands at their trunks and trying to think up what the counter to the feather-light charm was, Harry simply leaned over and placed a hand on each trunk before overloading the spell that kept the trunks lightweight, much to their owners' relief.

Harry helped Neville get his trunk up to his dormitory while Hermione took her own, he wasn't supposed to be able to get into the girls' dorms so he decided to keep that quiet while he helped his guy friend get unpacked. It didn't take long and they were soon sitting in the Gryffindor common room while waiting for Hermione to come back down.

It was about two minutes later that Hermione trooped down the stairs to join them and they passed the time with talks, exploding snap, several other wizarding games and several muggle ones such as hangman. Harry excused himself when they all started getting peckish to retrieve some food from the ever eager Hogwarts house elves in the kitchens before returning with what was a picnic that probably could have fed a family of five for a week.

When the light started fading and evening drew in the three of them donned their school robes, Harry still had his regular clothes and armour underneath, and headed for the currently rather quiet great hall. It was a rather unusual sight for the two Gryffindors, not being early risers like Harry was, and they were rather stunned by how large and cavernous it looked without students filling it.

xxxxx

It was time for the sorting and the head table was now full, the last professor having scurried in a few minutes before the first years were to arrive. Harry's eyes kept drifting back to the large Hogwarts crest on the floor in front of the centre of the staff table, surely it couldn't be that easy.

Harry's attention was returned to the here and now as Alistair burst into song, a different one from last year and he inclined his head to the hat. A small twitch in reply let Harry know that he would have a guest this evening in the form of said headpiece.

As the sorting progressed, Harry cheered for any new Hufflepuffs there were and kept an eye out for any students to take note of, Ginerva Weasley went to Gryffindor but the look she cast in his direction had him on edge, it was far too possessive for his liking, and another Gryffindor, Colin Creevy, seemed to be exceptionally hyperactive and full of energy, Harry hoped he would be able to tone it done and rein it in before he felt like murdering the excitable first year, at least he wasn't in the same house as him.

Dumbledore rose from his seat after the sorting and introduced Gilderoy Lockhart, the new defence professor, before he had everyone singing the school song. Harry simply glared at the words coming out of the headmaster's wand while Berserker simply looked rather confused and Lancer was shaking with laughter, Harry was sure that he was going to develop a twitch in his right eye with everything going on, it didn't help that only he could see the two servants so shouting at thin air might not do much for his reputation, especially where his sanity was concerned.

xxxxx

Harry headed back to the Hufflepuff common room with the rest of his house and soon made his way to his room that now sported three beds. Settling himself down, Len uncurled herself from around his neck before returning to human form and climbing in bed with him. Harry looked up at the hat that had turned up next to him and placed it on his head.

"Right, let's see what you have to report."


	21. Second Year Begins

AN: This is a bit of a faster update than the last and it flowed a lot easier too. There are a fair number of bits towards the end that are pretty much lifted straight from the book and anyone who's read them will probably be able to tell you where I've done that. I have a problem, I have so many ideas for what I want to happen in third and fourth year that my mind keeps jumping to them rather than sticking with second so I would really appreciate it if you could all bear with me while I brain myself against the wall. Anyway, as usual my forum can be found either on my profile or here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

As always, please enjoy the chapter

Beta'd by NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 21 – Second Year Begins

Harry grumbled in frustration.

On the floor in front of him was one of the phones that Zelretch had gotten him from a time line that was ahead of the current one, it was black and slim, it was also in pieces. Harry now believed that what he was doing wasn't something that charms could help with, Transfiguration was also out and he doubted there were any potions that could help him do what he was trying to do.

He was trying to get a phone battery to recharge itself off of ambient mana, he could easily anchor a boundary field to it that prevented prana from passing from one side to the other but the phone would still need charging. He was so sure that the last charm he'd been researching would have done it but it turned out the 'power' from the spells description simply changed heat energy into light, making hot things flash. That was useful for fire fighters and their ilk but it didn't help him turn mana into a form that a phone battery could easily accept.

"Master," Harry looked over to one of the other beds in the room to see Berserker swinging her feet backwards and forwards, her mace laid beside her. "What are you trying to do?" Harry could here toe curiosity in her voice quite clearly, well she might be able to help as physics was a speciality of hers.

"I'm trying to create a system where ambient mana is converted into a form that a mobile phone can recharge itself from. If I manage to do that then I can get Zelretch to mess with it so I can call home whenever and not have to rely on my weekly visits." Harry explained to the girl who seemed to be composed of prosthetics.

"Like my galvanism then?" Harry blinked owlishly behind his blindfold. Galvanism? He thought for a moment, what was that again? Harry cocked his head to one side and posed that question to Berserker.

"Galvanism is a noble phantasm of mine that is constantly active. Any magical attack used against me that has no physical form, such as lasers or wind blasts, is converted to prana and used to power me." That sounded exactly like what Harry wanted to do and he asked her if he could examine it, he was an idiot to have forgotten that and was tempted to brain himself against the nearest wall.

Blushing heavily, she told him. "The noble phantasm doesn't have a physical form like my mace but is something that happens simply by being me, I believe that the thaumaturgy it uses is of the alchemy branch if that helps." Harry almost face-palmed at that, how could he be so stupid? Once he'd realised that thaumaturgy could isolate the electronics from the high levels of ambient mana he'd tried anything he could think of on the wizarding side without delving deeper, that was an amateur's mistake.

"I'm sorry to ask this Berserker but is it allowable for me to examine you? By that I don't mean a dissection or something but merely for me to put my hands on your shoulders and attempt a structural analysis." Harry asked, she blush deepened but she agreed anyway.

Harry stood up from the floor and walked over to her, sitting himself beside her on her bed. He put both of his hands on her shoulders and closed his eyes, slowing his breathing down. With barely a murmur he activated his structural analysis and sent a probing tendril of his prana into her body.

It was amazing, she seemed to have been created from at least a dozen different humans, three of them male, before having all of the internal organs sealed inside of a female skin. The prosthetics were actually coverings from where the skin had either broken or had been missing when she was created. It was a bit difficult to really probe her depths because of a bodies natural resistance to someone else's prana but Harry's origin allowed him to make it easier than it otherwise could have been.

It was at the centre of her chest that Harry stopped for a moment and no, it wasn't because of perverted thoughts. She had no heart. That wasn't to say she was a heartless monster that killed kittens and ate puppies for breakfast but a more literal statement, there was a gap where the organ necessary for pumping blood should have been.

Harry opened his eyes and looked at Berserker, "Heart?" He asked and in reply Berserker just sat backwards and ran one hand over her mace, was she telling him her heart was in there? The biological impossibilities with that threatened to give him a headache but hey, since when did things have to make sense?

Harry just nodded before thinking back to what he'd found out in his scan. He dismissed the fact that she was made from various humans out of hand, it wasn't relevant to what he was currently thinking about and, to put it bluntly, he didn't care as long as she didn't. He'd looked into that 'galvanism' thing she'd mentioned and believed that he could come up with a serviceable idea from it, he'd never be able to fully replicate it but he could use the basic idea to create a runic array with wizard rune styles that would perform the basic alchemical effect of changing ambient mana into a form of electricity that would charge his mobile phone.

That may seem rather mundane to some but for Harry it was more of a proof of concept idea, the sort of runic array he was thinking of was highly wasteful and inefficient, requiring far more mana per unit of electricity than would really be useful for larger projects but it was a work in progress and he was determined to get results.

Harry soon began pulling out rune primers and old arrays he'd made for one thing or another in order to overcome this latest challenge, rune dictionaries began to pile up on the floor of various languages. Norse runes may be the basis that everyone started from, and they were quite flexible in application but different sets of runes had an affinity for different things. Egyptian hieroglyphics, for example, were really good when used for purely defensive wards and produced some of the toughest shields but they required far more power to cast them than something like greek which were great when used against creatures but absolutely useless for enchanting.

Sanskrit was a good one to use when ambient mana came into the equation but the conversion was probably best done in Sumerian while the actual charging of the battery should be in young Futhark. Harry quickly scribbled out three separate runic arrays, the first to collect the ambient mana as efficiently as possible, the second to convert mana into electricity that was 3.7 V and 900 mAh, what his phone made use of and a third for transferring that electricity into the battery for storage.

The first array was the simplest and easiest of the three, it required a few runes for taking in and storing the energy with a few other runes defining what it actually was supposed to absorb. The third array was also relatively simple, it merely transferred the stored power into another container. The only difficulty here would be defining what that container should be and the maximum capacity of said container, so it wasn't overloaded.

It was the second array that was going to be the most problematic. He needed to define the units necessary to measure the voltage and amperes before limiting it to the values required by the battery, while difficult this was a bit he could re-use when he decided to etch the runes into a laptop or something else electronic. Harry soon had paper scattered all around himself with various equations on them that would have probably earned him an arithmancy OWL there and then if a Professor took a look at them but each was only a part of the complete picture.

Seven was a magically powerful number that represented an increase of effect and as such was a commonly used number when crafting spells to get the greatest effect possible, three was another magically powerful number but that was more defensive than anything else and commonly used in wards, the last of the common magical numbers was thirteen and that was found in the most debilitating of curses that required large amounts of power to cast, the killing curse was one of the greatest that used the number thirteen in its matrix. The spell matrix for the killing curse had a central parameter based around the number one hundred and sixty nine or thirteen squared, this made it a costly but powerful spell to cast that overpowered shields quite easily despite the number three's defensive properties occurring within them.

The thing about magical numbers is they turned up rather often in spell matrices and runic arrays, essentially all of them actually. Harry found that his first array had two of these magical numbers occur within it, the number seven and the number thirteen. That the number thirteen was towards the end was a good sign as it would mean a great and powerful output and the number seven at the forefront meant that it would also have the amplification and efficiency properties that would make everything easier.

Harry got so enthralled by all of this that he completely missed his morning workout and it was only a question from Berserker that got him out of his reverie soon enough that he didn't miss breakfast, he rushed off with all haste as he didn't want to be late on his first day back.

xxxxx

At breakfast they received their timetables and a quick look showed Harry that the first lesson of the day was Herbology. Eating quickly so he could go and retrieve his homework, Harry didn't participate much in the conversations going on around him but everyone had gotten used to the distance he had with the vast majority of people though the looks that the first years gave him made Harry want to be somewhere else.

Returning downstairs after retrieving his homework for Herbology and Transfiguration, the classes they had that morning, Harry headed out of the castle and towards the greenhouses. There was a rather odd sight waiting for him though.

"Does that tree really have its branches in slings?" An exasperated Harry asked the person nearest him, a Ravenclaw girl named Su Li.

"Unless my eyes are deceiving me then yes, it does." The girl said before noticing who had asked the question. "Wait, your a Hufflepuff and I know we're sharing Herbology with the Gryffindors this morning. Why are you out here?" Harry cocked his head to one side before retrieving his schedule from his bag.

Yep, he had Herbology right now. He held out his timetable to Su who pulled hers out as well to compare them. Harry could see the girls frown getting deeper and deeper as she read through them.

"They're exactly the same." She said. Spotting Hermione leaving the castle, Harry called her over to compare how her timetable matched up against theirs only to find that hers too was identical to the Ravenclaw's and the Hufflepuff's.

"But wouldn't that mean larger class sizes?" She asked and Harry shook his head.

"Hermione, there are thirty seven people in our year. In Hogwarts heyday there were that many in a house of the same age, there's only about twenty-five percent of the school's capacity in attendance since the recent wars so they might have been much larger classes in the past. I guess they're trying to group us all together so we have more class hours even if the price is more students per teacher in a lesson." Harry told her.

Hermione frowned at this but didn't comment as they soon saw that Slytherin too was going to be a part of the lesson as Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott came out of the castle doors. Harry was wondering what was going on, was this an attempt by Dumbledore to get him to interact with people he favoured more or something else? Harry didn't see how forcing all four houses into the same classes would be a good idea, he envisioned mass chaos what with the almost legendary rivalry between the snakes and the lions.

Harry felt a familiar presence heading their way with an unfamiliar one and looked up to see Professor Sprout coming their way accompanied by Lockhart, the latter wore a bright smile with clean and elaborate robes while the former looked a little bit grumpy marching along in dirtied but far more practically cut robes. Harry's concerns about their Defence teacher grew, how could a professional think that such attire would be practical? Harry wondered how often blondie got tangled up in all of the embroidery and frippery that adorned his clothing. He also didn't like the look in his eye when he caught sight of Harry, there was a glint there that definitely put him on edge.

"Greenhouse three today chaps." Sprout told them, her cheery voice lacking a little of her usual enthusiasm. The students' ears all pricked up at that, they'd never been in greenhouse three before as that was were some of the more dangerous plants were kept, not the most dangerous but more so than others. The first greenhouse was almost muggle in what it had and contained what was essentially the most harmless and bland of plants while the second greenhouse housed some of the more magical species, plants that had special properties for use in potions, plants that changed colour according to the ambient mood or whether they were being watered properly or not. The third greenhouse was were the plants started to display teeth and poison, mild though it was.

There were five greenhouses at Hogwarts and only sixth and seventh years had access to the last one, the one that actually had health risks attached to it. Harry had seen some of the injuries that fifth years had gotten from the fourth greenhouse and how bloody they looked afterwards, as if they'd been mauled by wild animals or something, he actually really wanted to take a look in the last greenhouse to see the kinds of plants that necessitated heavy locking charms on the door and major wards reinforced with unbreakable charms on all the windows with a rune reinforced frame. Harry had analysed the defences that guarded that greenhouse when he'd returned from the forest one time and found them to be far more formidable than he'd expected, perhaps Dumbledore should have put the philosopher's stone in there last year as it would have been far better protected than where it had been.

Harry shook his head and started to follow the other students that were heading towards the appropriate greenhouse, Sprout was waiting for them with a large old-fashioned key in her hand and Harry already knew that the door was spelled to resist an alohomora charm. What Harry hadn't been expecting was for Lockhart to wait behind, the first he knew of it was when he put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

Sprout ducked the flying Professor as Harry reacted to the unexpected contact, looking closely Harry would have sworn that her lip twitched upwards in a smirk. She turned her head to see her colleague picking himself up off the floor and dusting himself down.

"Was there something else you needed Gilderoy?" She asked, her voice light and unconcerned as if a twelve year old hadn't just thrown an adult far further than he really should have been able to.

"Oh, I was just going to say that I need to borrow Mr. Potter for a moment to speak to him. I'll bring him right back to you." And without another word he sped off towards a rather disgruntled looking Harry, Sprout didn't look particularly happy about it either but he'd rushed off before she could object.

Sighing, Harry followed after blondie. Lockhart seemed to have gotten the message about surprising him and put an arm around his shoulders far more gingerly than he had before as he led Harry towards the lake and away from the greenhouses. Berserker and Lancer were stood at the ready, prepared to materialise in an instant and skewer/bash the guy into the ground in case he made a wrong move against their master.

"Harry," He said when they'd stopped in the middle of the grounds, right out in the open and a good distance away from anywhere. "Harry, Harry, Harry. I understand. Of course I understand. When we had our picture taken together, I gave you the buzz. You had to do something to get back in the public eye no matter how indirect you had to be."

It was rather confusing how he could say all that with his bright white teeth always on display, was he trying to blind Harry with the glare off of those things? What was he going on about anyway? Harry got that the buzz he was talking about had something to do with that picture that actually hadn't appeared in the _prophet_ during the book signing. The rumours that sprouted from that event were rather amusing, the least bizarre of which was that Harry had somehow become bound in a marriage contract with a demon that had a fetish for muggle swimwear. Harry understood that some people may call Berserker a demon because of her mismatched eyes and her metallic appendages but he didn't understand where the swimwear came into it as her standard clothing resembled a wedding dress more than anything else.

Harry opened his mouth to ask what blondie was going on about when said blondie decided to continue talking Harry's ears off. "I know that you needed something more fulfilling Harry. Harry, telling your friends to do something like that really isn't the sort of thing that generates a good and long lasting public image. Believe me, I was once just as much of a nobody as you are now. Actually, I was probably more of a nobody as people have heard about you and what not, especially given what the papers are saying now."

Harry was getting peeved at the guy when his eyes flickered up to the rune displayed prominently on his forehead, this Defence teacher was starting to sound more and more like a pop star than a monster hunter or whatever he claimed to be. He kept saying Harry's name too and he was on the verge of going 'yes, that's my name. Now can you please shut up?' He was also considering whether or not his first trip to the acromantula colony required live bait or not and now he was going on about him talking his friends into doing something? What was this guy going on about?

"Professor," Harry said, his tone laced heavily with distaste, not that the idiot seemed to notice it. "Regardless of what the papers may or may not have said about me either in recent times or not, you have taken me out of my first lesson of the year and that isn't a good way to start off academically. I have no idea what you're talking about when you say that I talked my friends into doing something nor do I really care. May I please leave now to return to my class?"

Lockhart blinked. "Not know?" he questioned, seemingly really surprised. "My dear boy, it was in this morning's paper. Take a look." Harry soon found that morning's _Daily Prophet_ shoved under his nose, where blondie had gotten it from he didn't know.

Our Saviour Leads Astray

By Rita Skeeter

As all of our readers will no doubt know, Harry Potter is amongst us once again and he wields an incredible amount of influence in our culture. The boy-who-lived is believed to have been taken take of by those loyal to Albus Dumbledore but in a recent meeting of the Wizengamot to discuss the situation, the chief warlock remained silent.

During the discussions that day the names of Harry Potter's guardians was revealed. The legal guardian that has turned down so many marriage contracts from good families and shattered the dreams of many young witches is named Kischur Zelretch Shweinorg. This name is not recorded within the hall of records in the Ministry of Magic and appears German in origin, the primary guardian of Mr. Potter is named Stheno and no surname was disclosed for her.

While the Germans refused us access to their records, the Greeks seemed rather surprised by the name Stheno turning up as it is a name originating from their country. Though they too refused to allow the illustrious British Ministry of Magic access to their family records they did say that Stheno was an old name not heard in over three thousand years.

While the Wizengamot came to a standstill yesterday on the matter of Mr. Potter's guardianship, something that we British citizens should be entitled to be informed of, something else also occurred at King's Cross train station. When some of the muggle parents of children attending Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry attempted to leave the platform for muggle London they found that the barrier had been sealed against them, it took four Gringotts' curse-breakers almost two hours to break through the seal and one was quoted as saying 'It was powerfully done but something about the magic felt familiar as if I should recognise what it was'. We at the Daily Prophet hope that the individual responsible for this is caught and appropriately punished for this random act that wasted the time of professionals when their skills could have been used elsewhere.

The interesting thing here is that the barrier was sealed before four students managed to get through. One muggle-born girl by the name of Hermione Granger, pureblood heir Neville Longbottom and the sixth son of the Weasley family, Ronald Weasley were all stuck on the opposite side with their good friend Harry Potter.

Harry Potter suggested that they find alternate means of transportation to get themselves to school and Ronald Weasley, his best friend, offered the use of his father's car to them. He rushed off to prepare the vehicle while the other three took a more sedate pace back out of the station and that was the last that Mr. Weasley saw of them that day.

At the behest of Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley decided to fly the car to Hogwarts alone and was seen by no less than seventeen muggles who were taken care of by obliviators. When Mr. Weasley arrived at Hogwarts he crashed into the whomping willow, which has stood on Hogwarts grounds since nineteen seventy one, he was received by Minerva Mcgonagall, his head of house.

She did not offer him comfort for his long journey but reprimanded him for his use of illegal transportation. When he told her that his good friend Harry had told him to do it she told him off, apparently Mr. Potter had arrived earlier that day and had told her of the irresponsible manner in which her student was going to arrive.

Harry Potter is a Hufflepuff but this is probably the most disloyal thing a member of that house has done for a long time, purposefully setting up their best friend only to be harshly reprimanded like that. Is Harry Potter really a Hufflepuff or did he trick the sorting hat into putting him there and is actually working for his own agenda.

Wizards and Witches of Britain, I urge you to be wary of what anyone may tell you, they may not have your best interests at heart and may be manipulating you for their own ends.

Harry blinked and quickly read through the article for a second time to make sure that he'd read it properly. He couldn't decide whether to laugh out loud or find this Rita Skeeter and curse her into a coma, he wondered how many gandr curses someone could take before succumbing to death? He read through it once more and recalled some of what the sorting hat had told him last night, Dumbledore wasn't going to stop anyone from discrediting him and would subtly encourage it so that he could wrest control of him away from his current guardians. Well, Harry thought, it was a lot more subtle than last year at least but there was no way that he was going to let him get away with it.

Harry started thinking, Augusta Longbottom was Neville's Gran and would listen to him and he'd heard that Amelia Bones was always fair. He tried to think of who else would have a Wizengamot seat and found that the majority of them were people like Lucius Malfoy, the father of the Ferret and a decidedly slippery individual, and Albus Dumbledore and his supporters. There were the traditionalists, the progressives and the neutrals. The traditionalists were often labelled dark but that wasn't true, they believed that magical Britain should retain its history and culture while the progressives could be considered muggles with magic. While that wasn't entirely true, the vast majority of wizards would never be able to fit into muggle society, they did preach integration with the muggle world and had been the ones to get rid of a number of rituals that traditionalists thought should have remained. The problem was that, while muggle-borns and raised attached dark to the word ritual whenever they heard it, most rituals weren't dark but non-aligned.

Rituals is muggle books and games were often displayed as satanic and connected to necromancy or demon summoning whereas rituals in the magical world also included ones meant to bring luck, a good harvest and other things but a blanket ban had been put on them with a few exceptions such as the blood adoptions, fertility and those related to wards and enchanting.

Back to the Wizengamot, while traditionalists wanted to retain culture and keep themselves removed from the muggle world and progressives wanted greater integration with the muggle world, the neutrals tended to be the ones that mattered. They did not have the numbers that the other two factions did but they tended to be the deciding vote and that vote was usually whatever was in their best interests. As many neutrals were in the merchant business and related industries that meant the greatest profit would get their votes more often than not.

The matter of his guardianship is something that he didn't know how they would vote. Those under Dumbledore's thumb would either vote for him to return to the Dursleys, a muggle family, or be put with a light-oriented wizarding family so he would be under their influence. The traditionalists wouldn't have him, a wizard (from their point of view), put with muggles and would either vote for him to remain with his current magical family or put him with a family they approved of. The neutrals would probably abstain from voting if they could but seeing as that wasn't an option in the Wizengamot then they'd probably vote to leave him alone.

The biggest problem would be the progressives, he thought, as they were unlikely to vote for him to remain so if he managed to get those such as Augusta Longbottom and Amelia Bones to vote that way then some may be swayed to do the same. There was little he could do to influence the traditionalists but they wouldn't necessarily vote to move him seeing as his family was magical as the goblins had declared they were. The neutrals were also those that wouldn't prove to be as big a problem but hopefully he could influence a few more votes with his acquaintances with several of those in his year.

"Harry. Harry. Harry!" Harry blinked as he registered that he'd gotten contemplative and Lockhart was trying to get his attention. Looking up from the newspaper he addressed Lockhart.

"I will notify the prophet of the truth about what happened. I do not consider Ronald Weasley a friend at all and for the _Prophet_ to print that is wrong in the extreme. I told the boy to wait for his parents and not do something stupid like he did do. If that is all, I have a lesson I am late for. Good day Professor." Harry shoved the newspaper back into Lockhart's hands and stalked off towards Greenhouse three.

There was one part of that article that really ignited his anger, the part where it said that Ronald Weasley was his best friend. That would have repercussions, the Weasley's were staunch supporters of Dumbledore and if Harry was seen as being aligned with them then he would be seen as 'Albus' little boy' something that was neither true nor desired. A friendship with the Weasleys would also close a lot of doors for him, those that required social respectability and class, something they lacked. The Weasley patriarch was also known to fiddle with muggle toys and Harry had heard his muggle obsession had also attached itself to his job, head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. That would make Harry loose a number of connections that he could form with the traditionalists before they'd even been considered.

Make no mistake, Harry didn't intend to remain in this world longer than he felt necessary but he was not going to make a half-hearted effort either. If Harry were to leave then he'd make damn sure that he had as many connections as possible whether they be political, material or financial didn't matter. If he ever needed to return to this world then he'd do so from as powerful a position as he could manage.

Re-entering the lesson, he found that Sprout had spent her time asking the students questions about some of the plants they would be studying this year with an emphasis on mandrakes. Harry could see the pots with tufts sticking out of the tops and if the wiggling was anything to go by then they were the mandrakes she was talking about.

"Right, now that we're all here we can begin. We have a bunch of young mandrakes here that will need re-potting. As Neville told us, the cry of a mandrake is fatal to those that hear it but as these ones aren't very old they'll probably just knock you out for a few hours. If everyone can put on a pair of ear-muffs I'll demonstrate." Everyone rushed to grab a pair of ear-muffs that weren't pink and fluffy.

Harry got himself a pair of said pink and fluffy earmuffs but a flick of his wand later they were black and purple, he left them fluffy though. Putting them on, he looked back to Professor Sprout who was checking that everyone had them on properly. Once assured that everyone was deaf to the world she picked one of the bots off the bench in the middle and another, larger one from a stack behind her. She gripped the plant firmly near the base and pulled.

Where the roots of a regular plant were normally, here there was an incredibly ugly baby. It had no eyes and its skin was the texture of sandpaper, not appealing at all. One, notable thing about it was the way its mouth was moving. It looked like it was wailing at the top of its voice and Harry could swear that he was hearing it, muffled as it was. Sprout dumped the mandrake into its new pot and shovelled some dirt over it with a trowel. All in all, she made it look really easy.

Removing her ear-muffs she signalled to the class to do the same before she started talking to them again, Neville was one of those listening avidly to her while a few others were eyeing the pots containing mandrakes rather warily.

"Now, once you have your ear-muffs on I don't want to see any of them off until I give a thumbs up. I will keep track of the time so you're not late to your next lesson, don't worry about that, but in addition to possibly being knocked out on your first day back I will take twenty points and give a detention whenever I see someone without protection." Sprout told them all with a stern voice.

Soon enough, everyone had gotten stuck in to the re-potting of the mandrakes. Sprout had made it look so easy yet everyone was struggling to get them into their new pots. They really didn't seem to want to go and fought all the way, first one limb would be out of the pot then another when you had that one down before it wriggled free and tried again.

Harry didn't seem to have that problem as the Mandrakes seemed to instantly calm in his hands and become rather sedate, they didn't even wail when he handled them. Harry re-potted seven of them in quick succession and was curious about when he felt something in his mind. Focusing on it, he found it was the root-like connection that Elestia had left behind after their initial meeting.

_'Don't worry. Mandrakes are wild plants that man cannot tame and as such they fall under my domain when they are within reach of my forest, you have become a part of my domain no matter how minor your place and they recognise that'_

That was good to know and certainly explained why the other plants in the room seemed to be trying to edge closer to him whereas the ones in greenhouses one and two hadn't. Harry looked closer at the eighth one he was going to pot and tickled its stomach, it jiggled as he did so as if shaking with laughter. He was so caught up with it that he wasn't paying attention to what was going on, Lancer and Berserker were out on the grounds as it was quite packed in the greenhouse, and Ferret managed to sneak up on him and tear off his ear-muffs before Harry noticed anything.

The din from all of the screeching sent lances of pain into Harry's head as he went from complete silence to a raucous cacophony. It took him a moment to adjust to the change in volume and instantly looked around. His earmuffs were on the floor behind him, snapped in two pieces, but his eyes landed on the fluff on Ferret's sleeve. Harry just shook his head and went back to re-potting mandrakes, there weren't many left and he was getting through them the quickest.

At the end of the lesson Professor Sprout held Harry back. He had an idea why she had and waited for her to ask her questions, he got what he expected.

"Mr. Potter, I distinctly remember telling everyone at the start of the lesson that ear-muffs were to always be worn so can you please tell me why I saw you without them? I would also like to know why you weren't affected by their cries."

Harry just rolled his eyes behind his blindfold, he could guess an answer to her second question but he had no way of being certain. "I did wear mine up until they were pulled off my head. The sudden change in noise was rather painful so by the time I turned around the culprit wasn't there, the ear-muffs themselves lying broken on the ground. I do believe it to be Draco Malfoy though I only have circumstantial evidence. I charmed my ear-muffs black and purple at the start of the lesson and mine were the only ones to sport those colours, it's interesting to note that Draco Malfoy had some unusual coloured fluff on his sleeve. Regardless of anything else the screaming didn't seem to affect me so I decided to just get on with re-potting the mandrakes."

Sprout just gave him a look before nodding and dismissing him. He had Transfiguration next and he raced through the halls so he could get a wash before next period, calling to his servants as he headed into the castle. They soon reached his side and asked about the lesson, neither of them looked happy about what the ferret had done, and the three of them headed for Harry's next lesson with all due haste.

xxxxx

Harry was rather amused in Transfiguration, they were supposed to be turning a beetle into a button and Harry had a small stockpile of them when he had an idea. Harry had gotten into the habit of whispering incantations rather than shouting them, something Stheno and Waver approved of and Euryale said would be good for pranks, and he focused on an image of Lancer in his mind before casting the spell at the unfortunate beetle. Harry watched as the beetle flattened out and changed colour, the last part of he transformation being the holes in the buttons that the thread would go through.

Harry picked up his new button and smiled as he saw an image of Lancer on it even if one of the button holes was where her head should be. The two servants looked over his shoulder to see it, Lancer clapped her hands and Berserker pouted so Harry made another one that depicted her this time before he slid both buttons into his pocket.

At the end of the lesson, Harry waited behind as the class filed out. Mcgonagall raised an eyebrow before seating herself behind her desk. She sat there with her forearms flat in front of her with her fingers interlinked as she raised an eyebrow and spoke.

"Is there anything you need Mr. Potter? Your work this lesson was exemplary so I don't think you have any problems there." Harry nodded his head before opening his mouth.

"Have you read this morning's _Daily Prophet_ Professor?" He asked and she looked at him for a moment before replying.

"No, I haven't. I was rather busy this morning so I simply paid the owl and left the paper in my office for later. Is there something in there that I'm not going to like?" Harry almost snorted, last year she didn't seem so fond of him but she seemed to be regarding him closely but less guardedly so far.

"I was just wondering why the newspaper is allowed to print the name of a minor without consequences. There is also the fact that I'm being blamed for Weasley's stupid stunt with the flying car, apparently I'm his best friend too." Harry shook his head. "If I'm his best friend then he should hope that he has no enemies."

Mcgonagall eyed him critically for a moment. "I am going to my office now Mr. Potter. I will read the newspaper and if it is making erroneous claims then I shall send them a letter telling them what they've gotten wrong, I suggest you do the same. The newspaper is unlikely to apologise to you but they will probably make a comment in the next issue, that would probably be all that happens so don't get your hopes up."

Harry considered for a moment and realized that with how backwards the laws in the wizarding world were that it was probably his best bet, not perfect but better than nothing as the only thing he could really do was bribe the crap out of everyone and that wasn't something he felt like doing.

"Thank you Professor, I believe I'll do just that. I came to you because you were named in the article and a reply from you would mean more than it would from anyone else here except the headmaster and I can't envisage him responding in the same manner as you." Not to mention the fact that this would give him an advantage, something that Harry would deprive him of with pleasure. With another nod, Harry left the room to go to lunch.

xxxxx

For his midday meal Harry decided on chicken, rice and vegetables, fairly healthy and Harry really liked rice. He took a seat between Hermione and a boy that he had never really paid much attention to, not that he ever paid much attention to anyone, Justin Finch-Fletchley. Harry dished up his plate and habitually analysed it, finding nothing unexpected in his food he ate it. He tilted his head to one side and listened to the conversations going on around him, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot seemed to be discussing a magazine called Teen Witch Weekly, Ernie Macmillan was having a conversation with Zacharias Smith about 'the goings on in the ministry', it didn't sound like either really knew what they were talking about and were trying to one up each other with 'who's the more important' or something like that.

What really got Harry's goat, a figure of speech though he wouldn't be averse to someone taking Dumbledore down a peg or two, were all the conversations going on about Gilderoy Lockhart. With a little reinforcement Harry's hearing could stretch across the entire great hall and his memory partition was picking apart several of the conversations he could hear. The majority of the girls in third year and up were discussing his looks and Harry heard several mentions of winning Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile award or something like that, the younger years were in awe of his achievements that had been written about in the set texts for everyone and the older boys were grumbling about him getting all the female attention.

There were exceptions however, one girl over at the Ravenclaw table seemed to notice when he directed his attention over there and directed her curious gaze towards him, ignoring her there was some of the mutterings at the staff table that caught Harry's attention. It seemed that Snape was muttering several rather unpleasant potions under his breath and contemplating the idea of putting one in Lockhart's drink, Harry's ears twitched as he caught Snape mutter about 'trying to tell me how to do my job' and wondered if Lockhart had a survival instinct and when it would kick in. Mcgonagall had her newspaper open in front of her and Harry's reinforced ears managed to catch bits of her mutterings about ridiculous reporters and what she'd transfigure them in to, Harry could swear that he heard her wonder whether Skeeter would like it if she was turned into toilet paper.

Letting the reinforcement fade, Harry returned his attention to what was going on in his immediate vicinity in time to hear Justin to start talking to Hermione, it seemed that he was also rather fond of the Lockhart books.

"That Lockhart's something, isn't he? Awfully brave chap. You'll have probably already read his books, I'd have died of fear if I'd been cornered in a telephone box by a werewolf but he just stayed cool and – zap – just fantastic." He was saying, Harry decided to add his own input to this.

"It was either really brave or really stupid, there are disadvantages and advantages to a situation like that. The werewolf would have had only one direction to attack him from but he cut off all of his escape routes if what he attempted failed. Werewolves can outrun a lot of things, except something like a unicorn, and as such the telephone booth was probably used as a defensive measure despite how flimsy something like that would actually be. All told, it was a do or die situation with no second chances." Justin seemed surprised by Harry joining the conversation, not unexpected as Harry was a rather solitary person from the point of view of the Hogwarts students and staff.

"True that, I'd have probably frozen up and gotten killed. I don't think we've ever been properly introduced." He said, holding out a hand for Harry to shake. "Justin Finch-Fletchley. I don't need an introduction to know who you are, the famous Harry Potter." Harry grimaced slightly as he shook Justin's hand. He wasn't opposed to fame but when that fame wasn't earned then he didn't particularly want it.

"Nice to meet you." Harry said to the boy as Justin turned back to Hermione and started talking about their experiences as muggle-borns in a world of magic.

"My name was down for Eton, you know. I can't tell you how glad I am I came here instead. Of course, mother was slightly disappointed, but since I made her read Lockhart's books I think she's begun to see how useful it'll be to have a fully trained wizard in the family..." Harry left them to their discussion as he finished off his meal before leaving a little early for his next lesson.

He wasn't far out of the hall when he noticed a quick motion off to one side, having had Ferret try and get him in the infirmary during Herbology made him cautious. Harry immediately sped up going forwards before to the side then turning on the spot so he would be to the side of whoever it was.

A bright flash lit up where Harry had been stood a moment ago and Harry got a look at who it was. A Gryffindor, a first year he guessed, had tried to take a picture of him with a camera and jumped nearly out of his skin when Harry reacted like he had, Berserker and Lancer had also reacted when he had and had been on the verge of materialising when they realised there was no threat.

"He-hey there Harry!" The boy stuttered for a moment but was almost instantly back to how he was before. "Hey, I'm in Gryffindor and that was where everyone said you would be and I've read all the books about you. My dad's a milkman and he doesn't know anything about the magical world, it was really surprising when we got the letter.." Harry just let the boy ramble on for a minute before getting to the point.

"So I was wondering if I could have a picture?" Harry started paying attention again as the excitable kid calmed down. Harry rolled his eyes, why did it have to be those stupid books that brought even more trouble into his life than there already was.

"A picture?" He asked of the boy who nodded. "Look-" He paused for a moment, what was the kid's name again? Ah yes, it was Creevy, Colin Creevy if he remembered right.

"Look Colin, I am not in the habit of posing for photos so I'm going to have to tun you down." Harry looked back over his shoulder as more and more people began to head off for their next lesson. "I have a lesson now so I'm going to have to go. Goodbye." And with that Harry escaped the fanbo- er, made a tactical withdrawal from making a scene. Seeing Lockhart come round the corner a moment later made Harry incredibly thankful that he'd gotten away when he had, he would have blown it completely out of proportion.

xxxxx

Harry entered the Defence classroom along with the rest of the class, he didn't see Lockhart anywhere but when he closed his eyes and concentrated he noticed that there was someone on the other side of the door at the far end of the classroom, that was probably him.

Harry took a seat at the back of the room, as far from the teacher's desk as he could get. There was some kind of cage set up with a cloth draped over it. Harry concentrated harder than before and found a number of smaller life signs coming from it, they felt mischievous and giddy or that was what he thought, he could be wrong.

The rest of the class soon found seats of their own, Harry found that the seats immediately on either side of himself remained empty but two seats to his right was Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini was on Nott's other side. Taking a quick look around, Harry saw that most of the girls were near the front and the more excitable boys were there too. The back rows consisted mostly of Slytherin and Gryffindor males with a few others such as Daphne Greengrass, her friend Tracy Davis and Ravenclaw Su Li. The last of them, Su, caught Harry's eye and nodded to him which he returned.

A throat was cleared at the front, Lockhart had entered the room and was stood in front of his desk. Reaching forwards, he picked up Padma Patil's copy of Voyages with Vampires. Harry had to restrain his laughter when he saw that, it had been one that his family and friends back at the clock tower had been most interested in. It was rather laughable, it made vampires out to be such daunting and fearsome opponents before going on to mention their weaknesses and how to combat them. The problem was that they were so weak compared to even unranked apostles that the hype surrounding them really didn't make much sense to any of them, Altrouge herself had laughed herself to tears about it and wondered aloud if these 'vampires' could even hold their own against a toddler. An exaggeration true, but the concept was the same, Harry wondered what would happen if a coven of vampires ever met Altrouge but that just gave Harry an image of a complete slaughter. Harry focused back on blondie as he began to speak.

"Me," He said, indicating the photo on the book's cover. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League and five times winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award – but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"

Harry blinked as Lockhart paused, was he expecting laughter? That sounded so rehearsed it was painful and who the heck cared about the five times cheesy grin award? Why would being an honorary member of anything have meaning? Why did he receive his Order of Merlin? He was starting to sound even more like a poster boy and icon than he did before.

"I see you've all bought a complete set of my books – well done." Well duh, they are the set text for this year and why are they being congratulated for it? "I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about – just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in."

Blondie walked all around the room handing out the quizzes before returning to his desk, "You have thirty minutes. You may begin." Shaking his head, Harry looked down at the paper and read the questions.

What. The. Heck?

Question one was about Blondie's favourite colour, the second his secret ambition and the third was one about what he though Lockhart's greatest achievement was. Harry flipped the parchment over and saw that the other side was completely covered in similar questions, there was a second piece of parchment with even more questions right down to the last one which asked about Lockhart's birthday and what his favourite gift would be.

There was no way that Harry was going to fill in any of that egotistical crap and simply conjured a small orb of fire in his hand with which he burnt the questionnaire with. The students had seen Harry use weird magic last year and some looked curiously at it when he'd lit the damn thing, others like Hermione looked scandalised, but Lockhart merely looked a bit put out and did nothing in response to his pop quiz going up in flames.

Half an hour later and Lockhart had collected in all of the quizzes that hadn't been turned into ash. He was tutting at them for forgetting his favourite colour, apparently it's mentioned in _Year with a Yeti_ and chapter twelve of _Wanderings with Werewolves_ says that his perfect birthday gift is harmony between all magic and non magic peoples but he wouldn't say no to fire whiskey. That really peeved Harry off, a wish should really be used for something impossible such as him wishing for his family to be complete and not for something like peace. Harry believed that if everyone actually cared about peace and harmony then they'd put in the effort to get it, that had worth behind it unlike someone simply magically forcing people to get along, that was abhorrent to him.

Harry looked around the room, it seemed that some of the borderline people who weren't sure about the man were becoming disenchanted by how fake he acted and were looking at him with disbelief. Harry wondered how many people believed him due to his looks and because of his public image, he then began to wonder how far that number would fall by the year's end. Oh well, there was that apparent curse on the position which prevented anyone lasting an entire year, hopefully that would take care of him if Harry didn't.

"... but miss Hermione Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions – good girl!" Hermione's ears almost visibly pricked up at this. The secret ambition stated Harry could partially agree with, he doubted that Lockhart cared as much for good and evil as he was saying but the hair potions certainly sounded plausible. "In fact she has full marks! Where is miss Granger?"

Hermione raised a trembling hand from where she was seated, right in front of Blondie. She got ten points for Gryffindor and she sat straighter and prouder in her seat, she did get rather obsessed with house points last year if Harry remembered properly, he was glad he wasn't in the same house as her as she would undoubtedly nag him incessantly if he lost any, he really didn't care about house points at all.

Once all of that was over and done with Lockhart's entire demeanour changed. Harry didn't know if it was the more serious side of the man or if it was simply dramatic effect but he certainly caught everyone's attention even those who had sat at the back of the room.

"Now, be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizards! You may find yourself facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."

Harry was curious despite himself, the worst fears thing he'd mentioned sounded like a boggart. Boggarts were a type a spirit that transformed into a representation of a person's greatest fear regardless of how skilled an occlumens they were and Harry was curious how such a creature would react to him. Harry kept a careful eye on the cage as Lockhart put one hand on the cloth that covered it before dramatically pulling it off.

SMACK!

A few people blinked as Harry Potter started banging his head off the table before looking back at the creatures in the cage. Harry had been right, mischievous and giddy described Cornish Pixies pretty well although energetic may be a better term to use than giddy. He had been hoping that this actually was the man's serious side but it seemed that it was nothing more than theatrics once again, more convincing ones but theatrics all the same.

Seamus Finnigan let out a snort of laughter that even a deaf person couldn't mistake for a scream of fear. Harry couldn't blame him, they weren't frightening in the slightest.

"Yes?" Lockhart smiled at Seamus.

"Well, they're not very dangerous, are they?" Seamus asked, the little electric blue pixies were now rattling the bars of the cage and pulling faces at those closest to them. They weren't very threatening and when people got over their shock they began to be amused by them rather than intimidated.

"Don't be so sure!" Lockhart exclaimed, wagging a finger at Seamus. "Devilishly tricky little blighters they can be!" Lockhart walked back to the cage and put one hand on the door before turning to the rest of the class. "Right then, let's see what you make of them."

He opened the cage.

Harry sat back in his chair, rather amused, as all hell broke loose around him. The pixies grabbed anything they could get a hold of and began breaking things and throwing them around, zooming around the classroom and giggling madly. A few of them managed to get a hold of some of the students' robes and began swinging around like loons while a few others began tying shoe-laces together and other similar things.

One amusing part was when a group of about seven pixies flew right towards Harry. They got within four feet of him before skidding to a stop with a horrified expression on their faces before doing an about turn and flying right back the way they came from. Harry pulled out a book from his bag, it was a tome of runes and he went back to developing the runic arrays for his projects that he'd started that morning.

"What's the problem? They're just pixies." Lockhart called out before drawing his wand and waving it calling out "Peskpiksi Pesternomi!"

Whatever that was supposed to do it didn't work, it did draw attention to himself however as the pixies ganged up on him. They grabbed his wand and threw it behind them, almost hitting Weasel in the eye, before the Professor decided to withdraw from the classroom and hide in what Harry guessed was some sort of mini office or something.

"Harry! Help!" Harry lazily turned his head to see Hermione wrestling with a few pixies that had gotten a grip on her wand and were trying to relieve her of it. Harry saw some glances aimed at him from others in the classroom, he was the only one completely unaffected by the chaos that they'd all been engulfed in. Sighing, Harry put his things away before releasing a wave of killing intent that made everyone in the room, human and pixie alike, freeze and look at him like a deer caught in headlights.

"Pixies," Harry said in a chilling voice. "Here!"

The pixies instantly obeyed despite a few quivering in fear of the weird boy that made them want to flee before he did something unpleasant to them, the students looked at Harry, they could feel two strong primal urges. One feeling told them to flee while they could while the other told them that they shouldn't move a muscle and then perhaps he wouldn't notice them.

"Now," Harry continued in that cold and authoritative voice. "I give you pixies two options. Option one is me opening that window over there and letting you leave to set up your own colony somewhere such as the forest and option two..." Harry's lip curled up into a feral smirk. "Option two is that I open Blondie's door and let you have some fun with him while I open the window for your departure. Well, what is it to be?"

Harry reined in some of his killing intent and a few people in the room started rubbing their arms to flatten the hairs on their arms that had stood on end. The group of pixies in front of him seemed to be chatting with each other and before long one of them stepped forward and raised a hand with two fingers uncurled.

"Very well then." Harry shot off two spells, one to the window which caused it to fall open and another at Lockhart's door which slammed open and remained there. "Your choice has been made. Goodbye."

With that Harry stood up and left the classroom. Others watched as the pixies made sure he'd left before charging into Lockhart's other room before deciding to follow Harry's example and get the hell out of there.

It is interesting to note that no one saw Gilderoy Lockhart until the following afternoon when he was supposed to have a first year class, Colin certainly got a number of interesting photos then.


	22. Up to Halloween

AN: I'm getting less time to type up my fics recently and it's gooten to about two or so hours a day rather than the five or so I could devote to it before so start expecting a chapter every week give or take a few days, I might get two in one week if I get spare time but don't hold me to it as I post a chapter as soon as it's done. I'm a little disappointed with this chapter but my mind is mushy and I can't think what to put since I needed to fill time up to Halloween and this Harry didn't have quidditch practice to attend. You may think that Hermione is acting weird but that is intentional and will be addressed in the third year, it's all her own fault really and if anyone wants details then they'll have to PM me for them. As usual, the appropriate forum can be found on my profile or here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

Virtual Cookie for anyone who can guess what poem I refer to in this chapter!

Please enjoy the chapter.

Beta'd by NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 22 – Up to Halloween

Harry spent a great deal of effort avoiding people that he didn't want to meet after the first day of they year. There was Lockhart who had quickly bounced back and was all smiles and was trying to advise Harry on how to manage his fame, something Harry wanted no part of and was wondering if he should start dismembering Blondie.

Another inconvenience was one Colin Creevy who seemed to have memorised Harry's timetable and had made it his mission in life to make the hybrid's hit list. There was only so many times that Harry good say hello to someone in one day before he started to get irritated, after the third day he decided to go to classes in a more unconventional manner.

It was a shock to several professors when Harry Potter decided that open windows were just as acceptable as doors for gaining entry to a classroom, Mcgonagall tried to take him to task for it but after he'd explained it she dropped the matter, she'd heard about the fanaticism that the child in question had displayed in Gryffindor common room. He'd been asking all of the upper years about his 'hero' which had blown up in his face when Ronald Weasley had expressed his opinion of the boy in question.

The worst though, the one that irritated the boy the most, was one Ginevra Weasley. Whenever Harry had thought he'd been alone in a corridor and he'd asked his Servants to check around, they'd often found the girl in question hiding around a corner watching Harry. He couldn't work out why she did it because, despite being some sort of fangirl, she was painfully shy and would blush uncontrollably whenever Harry was looking in her general direction. Harry could ignore her hiding round corners or behind something but whenever she did so it was common for her to cause some sort of mess as she did, from spilling ink bottles all over everything or dropping her bag to dropping her fork whenever she looked over at him in the great hall during meals. Her obsession with the 'boy-who-lived' seemed to be far more pronounced than any of the others that he'd seen and he was rather concerned about that, he wondered where such an obsession had originated. Harry made a mental note to check with the twins where it came from and if they could do anything to dissuade her from it.

It was as Harry came back from his weekend at the clock tower that Hermione confronted him about the incident that had occurred during the last Defence lesson, the rest of his classmates had been rather hesitant about approaching him.

"What was that?" Was the first thing she asked him and Harry merely blinked behind his blindfold, if she wanted answers of any kind then she really needed to ask something more specific than that.

"What was what?" He asked, his lip twitching upwards in a small smirk, he'd been getting rather frustrated this weekend as Zelretch wouldn't tell him what he'd needed blood and bone for, only saying that 'he had an idea that Waver had indirectly given him'. Waver hadn't a clue what the vampire was going on about and neither did anyone else, the only clue he'd been able to find was the large number of Blood Replenishing potions and Skele-gro that he'd discovered.

Hermione seemed to be in no mood for his games however if her glare was anything to go by, it might have cowed a Harry that grew up abused and neglected but this Harry was a completely different case. This Harry had grown up amongst magi, the kind of people that would slaughter innocent babies if it would further their research, this Harry had two vampire princesses amongst his closest friends and this Harry had participated in three apostle hunts, he wouldn't be cowed, he was actually rather amused by her attempt at looking intimidating.

"What was that scary feeling in Defence? It was you, I know it was so don't deny it. Everyone felt it, even the pixies, and it has everyone rather scared of you right now but I have absolutely no idea what it was!" Harry cocked his head to one side as he considered her, this only served to irritate her more and Happy saw her cross her arms and begin tapping her feet.

"I suppose it would be normal for you not to recognise it." Harry told her. He leaned back against the castle wall and thought about what he was going to say. "You wouldn't have been in a situation where you expect to die, where you think there is no hope, where you are up against someone or some thing that can kill you in an instant." Harry looked over at Hermione, it looked like she didn't know what to make of the direction he'd taken this in.

"When you're faced with a predator that sees you as nothing but prey or something to be swept aside as an irritation at best then you know how powerless you are. The opposite is also true, when you know that nothing is a threat to you and you allow the predator within you to emerge then they will know that they cannot stop you."

Hermione seemed to get her voice back. "So, so you're saying that you're amplifying an emotion through magic? That you are projecting an idea through a process similar to legilimency?"

Harry shook his head, she was trying to apply logic to something that was far more primal and instinctive. "You know the saying that someone has a gut instinct?" Hermione nodded slowly, "This is something similar to that. There is no magic involved just primal instinct, that was why everyone reacted whether they were human or pixie and that was why everyone is now scared of me."

Hermione seemed to be able to accept that a little easier that time but the look in her eyes told Harry that she had something else to ask, the difference being that she seemed a little reluctant in asking it.

"Just ask the question." Harry said, he wasn't going to stand there all day.

"You said that it was the effect caused by someone or some thing that wouldn't acknowledge you as a threat. Why don't we all feel like that around strong people like Professor Dumbledore?" Harry rolled his eyes.

"Because he doesn't express it, it was only when I let my killing intent loose during the lesson that anyone else noticed it. There's also the fact that Dumbledore is an extreme example of a pacifist."

Hermione nodded at that and asked her next question. "What do you mean about him being 'an extreme example of a pacifist'?"

"He thinks that turning the other cheek unto the point of death somehow makes you an amazing person. During the last war he advocated non-lethal and non-debilitating methods for capturing death eaters. For everyday criminals that wouldn't be so much of a problem, thieves and frauds should be punished before having a chance to actually do good in society, but when the criminals are throwing around lethal curses like the Avada Kedavra and the like then the kiddy gloves should come off. I believe that murderers and rapists should be dealt with harshly, the death penalty, but Dumbledore only wanted people to use spells like the Stupefy and the like. The problem there is that they can be woken up with a simple Ennervate whereas you can't wake the dead." Harry explained to her.

"But killing is wrong!" Harry sighed as she set her hands on her hips as she expressed her opinion.

"Murder is wrong," Harry agreed with her. A superior smirk appeared on her face as she thought he was agreeing with her, well it was time to shatter that illusion. "However, killing is not necessarily murder. There is a truth potion that has no known counter and three drops can force the drinker to answer any question they hear and if they confess when under the influence then, I believe, they deserve to die to die for crimes like murder and rape."

Harry completely ignored whatever she might have replied to that and walked around her and into the castle before he vented his frustration at her, he didn't think it wise to do so as it would draw unwanted attention. His mood was rather sour for the rest of the day which didn't help his reputation after the disaster that was Lockhart's last class.

xxxxx

Harry stayed up the battlements that night, he like to see the night sky as he rested and his two Servants had the opportunity to manifest without being seen. He wondered if there were any wards that prevented rain, snow and other examples of undesirable weather so he could make it a more permanent thing. He might just take over one of the unused towers, they were gathering dust and few amongst the students and staff ventured there. Yes, taking over a tower was an idea with merit.

Harry then began to think about what he'd need in just such a tower, his room had had to be modified to fit his two Servants so it would be best if they actually got separate rooms though not for Len, she didn't sleep anywhere except where Harry did now, a room for his books, he had an absolute library of his own now so that would be good.

Harry looked around himself as he contemplated the idea, two of the towers held the dormitories of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, one was for Astronomy and Divination was at the top of another. That left three other towers and Harry could see light in coming from one of those tower's windows right now.

Reinforcing his eyes, Harry managed to catch sight of what was through that window and saw that it was the headmaster's office, he could see Dumbledore sat behind his desk. That meant that the two floors above there were probably for the headmaster's private use.

The last two towers were where Harry focused his attention now, one of them was near the centre of the school building and didn't appear to be inhabited, the other was off to the south and overlooked the lake. The second tower didn't appear to be inhabited either and Harry made a note of its location, trying to think how it could be accessed from within the castle itself.

Harry looked down at the two heroic spirits that had their backs against the battlements and were looking at the sky, Lancer's eyes seemed to twinkle in time with the stars while Berserker was staring unblinking at the moon.

"Hey girls, there appears to be two abandoned towers. What do you think about claiming one for ourselves?" Harry didn't mind speaking aloud here, there was no one to hear them and he'd set up a small bounded field over the entrance so he'd know if someone came up the stairs.

Lancer's gaze shifted from the stars to Harry before she nodded. Getting to her feet and dusting herself off, she wandered over to Harry then started stretching herself out to work out the kinks she'd gotten from staying still so long. Berserker on the other hand kept her gaze fixed on the moon as Harry came to her and sat down beside her.

"There was a full moon that night as well." She said with a rather hollow voice, Harry looked at her with concern. "I really shouldn't have done what I did, I truly earned the name of monster."

Harry didn't know what she was talking about and decided to comfort her, leaning down he pulled the girl into his arms for a hug. She settled into his embrace and, if not for Len already being there, would probably have laid her head against his shoulder.

"I told you before that I won't judge you on your past actions. I haven't received a single vision from the dream cycle, I don't know why but it's true, and even if I do then I will continue to judge you based off of my experiences with you and from where I am sitting, you are not a monster." Harry stood up and Berserker followed suit, dusting down the dress she wore as she did so.

"Very well Master, let us go appropriate a tower for ourselves." Harry smiled at her before reinforcing himself and leaping off the battlements next to them.

The three then raced to the nearest of the two towers using acrobatic moves that would be dangerous if not down right suicidal to more regular people but the three of them enjoyed their race across the school roof, Len didn't seem to share their revelry however if her claws digging into Harry's shoulders was any indication.

Unfortunately there wasn't any conveniently open windows for them to climb in through at this tower but a quick 'Alohomora' allowed them to get in, terrible security really.

xxxxx

Once inside the tower, the three of them went to split up but Lancer spoke up before taking the staircase up.

"Master, do you think that the Hermione girl is acting a little erratic?" Harry paused for a moment and considered what she was saying. He remembered when he'd first encountered her down Diagon Alley, she had accepted killing in the right circumstances then. He also remembered how she'd acted when he'd woken up in the infirmary at the end of last year, it was like she'd forgotten about his family.

"Yes, she is. I don't know what might be causing it but I'll keep an eye out regardless, I'd appreciate it if you two would do the same" Berserker nodded before heading down the staircase to see how the tower connected to the rest of school, Lancer nodded and headed up the stairs to check on the rooms higher up.

Harry was left to check the rooms on the floor he was currently on. It seemed that not many space expansion charms had been used in this tower, or this floor at least, as the rooms seemed to be about the size he'd expect them to be. There were five rooms to look through and, apart from some built up dust, they seemed to be completely empty. A quick structural analysis showed that the tower was structurally sound and in no danger of collapse at least.

He went back to the staircase and waited for the others to come back. Berserker was first and she had found a nest of dead animals of some kind on the lower floor as well as the access to the rest of the school. It turned out that it connected to the fifth floor via a portrait of a hanging skeleton, Harry made a mental note to find said portrait as soon from the inside of the castle as well so he could work out where it was in relation to everywhere else.

Lancer was the last to join them and the two floors above them were filled with rubbish, she'd also found one of the dead things that Berserker had, it turned out to be a puffskein, and Harry was confident they could get rid of them without much of an issue. The top floor turned out to be one big room that had exposed stone for the floor, useful for ritual circles and the like, while the floor beneath that, and above their current floor, was separated into five rooms just like the floor that Harry checked.

Harry walked up to the next floor, repeatedly checking how strong the structure was as he went, and started vanishing all the rubbish that was there. It was rather curious that there were several different vanishing spells, 'Evanesco' could be used for liquids whether magical or mundane as long as they didn't come from an animal such as blood or saliva, 'Scourgify' was good against solid matter such as dirt and mud while 'Abolefacio' was something that was capable of getting rid of minor amounts of dark magic.

Harry was using 'Mundo' right now, a more powerful cleaning spell than 'Scourgify', he would rather over do it than not do it well enough. He soon had a dirt free room but it could do with brightening up a bit so he started firing colour charms about the room, he decided on a parchment like colour for the walls so he could put imagery on them later and a silver colour for the ceiling. Harry then began to add details to the walls, excerpts from famous Greek authors here and there as well as traditional depictions of people from those times. He added images of the Gorgons that could be found in museums on pottery, he added images of chimera and pegasus as well as a variety of others.

"Right, I'm happy with that. Which rooms do you girls want?" Berserker and Lancer looked at him for a moment.

"I've read a few of your textbooks and, as far as I recall, the colour charm isn't supposed to be that detailed." Lancer said, deadpan.

Harry shrugged. "It helps that I have a good mental image of what I want in my mind, Occlumency helps too. Because the walls aren't alive then they're not going to reject the charm so I don't have to re-apply it every day too, now for your rooms. The fact that it isn't offensive magic means the Hogwarts wards don't get in the way and the ambient mana that's in them from it sitting on a leyline actually helps the spell last longer."

Berserker and Lancer soon decided on the rooms either side of his, the former choosing a rather plain design of yellow and red while the latter had him make the walls look like a veritable flower garden. Harry wondered if shrinking charms would work on their beds, he'd prefer to get everything done without the castle's house-elves being any the wiser and it was this that led to him layering several specific bounded fields over the three rooms they'd claimed so far, it was filled with dust and debris so he doubted it was somewhere they went often, they were neat freaks after all.

Harry decided that, until he knew where the portrait that allowed access to the tower was, he'd go back over the roof to the battlements and down so as not to give away the location, no one was ever up as early as him anyway and he avoided windows. It was morning when he'd finished everything so far so he decided to head straight to breakfast.

xxxxx

Harry managed to clean out the inside of the tower that he'd taken up residence in over the next week, but it was a further two weeks after that when he was satisfied with the colour charms he'd added to all the walls. Most of the tower was now coloured in neutral creams and browns ready for whatever they decided to use them for, the beds had actually been easy to transfer when shrunk along with everything else that had been in Harry's Hufflepuff room. Lancer had asked him why he simply didn't use the kaleidoscope for things like that and he'd told her that he didn't want to get lazy and complacent, if he started using the kaleidoscope for basic things then he would be no better than someone who apparated down stairs rather than simply walking down them without a fuss.

Over the next month Harry layered all of the bounded fields that he could think of over the tower as a whole, it was a lot more difficult than simply doing a single room. He'd also been on the lookout for any books on warding and had found a few that had caught his eye, they seemed to be based on runes, charms and arithmancy, nothing too strenuous but also not something taught until sixth year.

Harry had found the portrait in question after a week and a half of searching, it had been in an abandoned part of the castle that no when went in any more, he'd found a lot of classrooms that had chairs and desks stacked high and coated in dust while searching. One thing that Harry liked about where the painting was located was the lack of other portraits there. The skeleton couldn't speak and it was at the end of a corridor that had tapestries along it rather than paintings, the tapestries though dusty were rather interesting in and of themselves.

The tapestries showed several of the goblin rebellions that Binns often droned about, the interesting thing was that it wasn't shown as a one-sided slaughter as modern-day purebloods would have it. There was one segment of tapestry that had a goblin standing tall and proud in tarnished armour, a goblin with pristine armour was one that had never seen battle, and in the figures hand was a number of wands held aloft. Harry could only assume that this was a goblin champion that had claimed the wands from dead wizards during a battle of some kind, it was rather impressive all told.

Harry had drawn a rather ridiculous number of runes around the inside of the portrait that led into the tower to anchor wards too, wards to prevent access to the ones he wanted to keep out, wards that would make people want to avoid the portrait, he made these ones so that people would attribute it to the creepy nature of the painting rather than anything else, wards similar to the one at the barrier at King's Cross that made people not notice when people came and went.

xxxxx

Harry entered through the painting of the hanging skeleton to the lowest of the four flours that he had claimed for himself, his Servants and Len. Like the two floors above it, this floor was separated into five equal-sized rooms though Harry didn't quite know what he was going to do with all of this space.

He'd moved his bookcases into one of the rooms on this floor and another had several cauldrons set up in it, the latter had a number of ventilation charms applied to it, while the actual potions and ingredients where stored separately in another two rooms.

Harry was starting to believe that he'd gone a bit mental when brewing potions, he now had an absolutely huge supply of Bone-Mending, Skele-gro, Blood Replenishing, Bruise Balm, Pepper-up, Wound Cleansing, Disinfectant, Anti-venom and many other medical potions. The anti-venom was pretty useless because his Gorgon heritage as well as his apostle heritage rendered most venoms and poisons ineffective but he brewed them anyway, just in case.

Harry had also stock-piled a number of other potions whether he saw a use for them or not such as the Forgetfulness potion and the Wit-Sharpening potion, he made multiple copies of any potion that he brewed in his Potions classes simply to practice and he'd given a fair amount of them to Madam Pomfrey for the infirmary. Pomfrey didn't ask why he was making so many potions but she always made sure to check the quality of potion before adding it to her stocks and Harry made consistently high quality potions because of his reinforcing the ingredients before adding them, this maximised their potency to make an overall better potion.

That was all five rooms on this floor, potions, ingredients, brewing room and library. The next floor was where the three bedrooms were set up, the remaining two rooms were left empty for now in case Harry's family or friends did visit so he had somewhere near him they could be. Len still refused to sleep anywhere other than where Harry was, sometimes she slept on a cat bed as she thought it 'comfy' but more often than not she climbed into his bed with him. Len hadn't done much so far this year, she'd stuck close to Harry and had spent a fair amount of time on his shoulders or around his neck.

The floor above the bedrooms was mostly unused, Harry had had a few ideas about what he could use them for but had left them as they were for now. It was the room at the top of the tower that was something else though, unlike the lower three floors it was all one big space that Harry had instantly taken a liking to. This was where he had decided to set up a workshop for the duration of the school year and there was several tables that he'd 'acquired' from elsewhere in the castle that were strewn with his various projects that he was working on.

One of the more neatly organised tables had his notes on his element and origin influenced magecraft, the orbs that he conjured and the effects that he could apply to them as well as other abilities of his. Harry had found that the shape hadn't been limited to orbs and he could now conjure spectral blades that would start at his forearms and cover his hands, he could also tie the five regular elements into these blades like he could with his orbs but had yet to find a use for using a blade made purely from ether. Harry didn't know if Waver had gotten him playing too many video games or something but now he was trying to make what was basically a golem with prana alone.

The idea behind it was that the 'golem' would be similar to an astralised Servant, incapable of interacting with the world but also difficult to interact with or even notice. It was a rather interesting idea but he'd had absolutely no luck with it so far and he didn't know what direction to take his research in but if successful then it would prove useful as a scout or the like.

Another bench had a number of mobile phones scattered all over it, the project he'd started over a month ago about charging a mobile with ambient magic. Using a phone in a magic rich environment wasn't a problem, it was easy to establish a bounded field that prevented prana passing through it and not much more difficult to make one that allowed prana out but not in. It was far more difficult to make it so the battery could draw in ambient magic and recharge itself of it so that he didn't have to go somewhere magically inert and plug it into a socket to charge it. He'd made a break through when he'd thought about using chips of emerald and topaz in the initial array designs, this helped because of the make up of those gems in particular, that they absorbed any surges was also a bonus. Harry thought it likely that that particular project would be over and done with before Christmas, that included tweaking it for more than just mobile phones but laptops and other things as well. When he was done with the arrays then he'd get Zelretch to mess with them so they could send a signal between parallel worlds and wasn't that a weird thought.

The next bench had some hand drawn maps scattered across it, this was Harry's notes on mapping out the castle so far. One big problem here was that the castle seemed to be messing with him, he well remembered how difficult it was to get to some lessons when the classrooms couldn't seem to decide where they wanted to be and moved from the third floor to the sixth depending on what day of the week it was. Harry would have to look to see if their was such a thing as magical cartography and what solutions there were for the difficulties he was faced with. These maps had two purposes, the first was to try and locate that damnable central ward stone while the second was to help him find the other rooms that the founders had left behind.

Harry had read through a rather impressive portion of the books behind that painting of a snake and was eager to see some of the other rooms. The armoury of Gryffindor wasn't of particular interest to him and neither was Hufflepuff's scrying chamber or Ravenclaw's music room, but the enchanted training room and the room that altered to suit your needs were two that he wanted to find. Harry had found what he believed to be the entrance to one of those rooms but he didn't know how to gain access to it. On the seventh floor, opposite a tapestry of some wizard trying to teach trolls to dance there was a small etching of a raven. That section of wall had no paintings on it and when Harry had gotten a really close look at it he'd noticed that there was a patch of wall, in the shape of a doorway, that had a slightly different colouration than the rest of the wall did.

Harry had not yet figured out how to get into said room but he was studying it intently to try and work it out. As for the enchanted training room that Gryffindor had apparently made, Harry hadn't a clue where to start with that one which disappointed him a bit but he wasn't going to give up that easily.

There was one more table set up in Harry's workshop and it didn't quite fit in with the rest, it was stacked with study guides for secondary school, college and university level mundane subjects. Maths was easy for him and he'd absolutely flown through it, he remembered the rules and formulas because of his Occlumency and then it was all a matter of interpreting and inputting data which wasn't too difficult. Physics was also a subject that was proving far from challenging as that was essentially maths applied to the real world, Chemistry and Biology weren't exactly difficult either. The one subject that was really causing him problems was English and no, it wasn't the language aspect of it, the literature aspect of the subject was supposed to get you to understand metaphors and similes in a manner that Harry thought rather forced. Harry understood and had read a lot of literature but he was used to there being a real life counterpart to said literature, the legend of the Gorgons being a prime example of that.

Harry sighed and sat down to look through that damn poetry again, he was determined to get the best grade he damn well could get for it. He looked at the poem in question.

"Is this a poem about oral sex!?" Downstairs, Berserker and Lancer heard a thump as Harry's head impacted the desk with considerable force.

xxxxx

"Excuse me Mr. Potter but could you come to my office after lunch?" Harry looked up from his meal to see the matron stood there in front of him. She spoke and held herself with professionalism that Harry admired and he had no trouble agreeing to her suggestion. The twinkle in the old coot's eyes however had Harry on edge, no doubt he'd pull Harry's record later to see what was going on and as headmaster he had that right, unfortunately.

Harry watched as Madam Pomfrey left and wondered what she wanted to speak to him about, he shook his head and focused on his morning lessons instead. He had Potions first followed by Charms and he was curious what they'd be brewing this morning as well as how useful the potion would be for him.

They turned out to be making a Burn-Healing Paste in Potions that day and Harry made a note to purchase the ingredients in bulk when the weekend came around so he could start making a stockpile of it, it was a useful potion after all. Harry had become quite the frequent customer at the apothecaries down Diagon Alley, as he usually stopped by there either before or after he visited his family on weekends to purchase more ingredients for the potions he was always brewing.

The following Charms lesson they went over the theory behind enlarging and shrinking charms, having already used the latter on his bed before moving it to the tower he'd taken over, Harry found this lesson to be rather dull and spent the lesson amusing himself by surreptitiously casting enlargement charms on Ferret's shoes and shrinking spells on Weasel's. He did try and untie their shoelaces as well by using the levitation charm on the very end of the lace and pulling gently but that proved a little too difficult for him. He was pulled out of his concentration when he felt a note slipped into his pocket and looked around to see Flitwick assisting the three students sat behind him.

Harry leaned back with a sigh as he pushed his hands into his pockets and looked around a bit, he was giving the image of a bored student, before leaning forwards again and setting his elbows on the table. The note was in the palm of his left hand and held only three words, 'Renodo' and below that was the words 'point cast'. Harry grinned, it seemed that a certain Charms professor wasn't above a little mischief himself.

After the lesson, Harry headed off to the infirmary to see what Madam Pomfrey wished to speak with him about. Seeing as she was the school matron, it was probably something medical related and he hadn't been to the infirmary since he'd ended up there at the end of last year.

The Hospital Wing was empty when he arrived but their was a door that led to Madam Pomfrey's office to the side which he knocked on. A moment later and the door opened, Madam Pomfrey's face appearing there, she beckoned him in. Harry looked around her office and found it rather fitting, there was a desk and chair in one corner and shelves straining under the weight of the files they led. There were a few shelves at the back of the room and Harry read their titles by reinforcing his eyes.

The books there seemed to be a little darker in nature than you might expect from a healer but, Harry supposed, she would have to understand such things if she ever needed to heal an injury caused by the dark arts. Pomfrey sat herself behind her desk and Harry took a seat opposite her, unseen but still there was the two heroic spirits that took up flanking positions either side of him just in case.

"So what did you need to speak to me about Madam Pomfrey?" He asked curiously, he wondered what was so important that she had to speak to him about in her office. Harry had used a little structural analysis when he'd entered the room and been rather impressed with the wards in here, he supposed that had something to do with patient confidentiality. There was also the fact that he couldn't find any listening charms or the like which was comforting.

"You remember what we spoke of the last time you were in the infirmary? About what I could and couldn't put in a student's record?" Harry nodded, he remembered. "I ran some tests on blood samples and the like to see what potions would and wouldn't work for you and the results came back with several unexpected things."

"What unexpected things?" Harry asked her, she'd mentioned something about what she could and couldn't put in student records so this was probably linked to that.

"While a number of more basic potions will work fine for you, your Gorgon nature won't preclude something from healing you, there are several potions and spells that you will be at least somewhat resistant to." That sounded fine to him so what were those potions? "It's strange, it's almost like your Gorgon nature has a will of its own as there are several potions with similar ingredients where one will work fine on you but the other won't work at all."

Harry thought back to Stheno and Euryale. Technically the two of them were only Gorgons so far as being Medusa's sisters was concerned and were more like divine beings, could the divinity be the reason for this and how much had Harry inherited.

"The potions that your body will accept without issue are all healing potions and a few others such as Calming Drafts and the like. It is notable that while they share about half their ingredients, Veritaserum will not work on you at all whereas the standard Animagus potion will. This is one of the things that my oath compels me to put in the record, this is both good and bad because you can't be accidentally fed the truth potion but, on the other hand, your testimony in court will hold far less value because they can't use Veritaserum to verify it. I will also have to add your metamorphmagus abilities, minor though they are, as transformative potions tend to react badly to that and there are several pet care potions for snakes that will react oddly to you as well. I asked you here to tell you that but to also ask what else I may have to add to the report for your own health as well as to ease my mind about it." Okay, Harry was fine with answering a few questions for a healer so he gave his assent.

"The first question is a little redundant as it asks whether you're fully human. I already know you are part Gorgon and part dead apostle, whatever that last one is." Harry nodded. "So, the second question is about the age of your non-human parent. It is well known that mature magic can become rather more potent as it ages and this also holds true for magical beings."

"Well, as far as I'm aware, the first depictions of the Gorgons themselves was in the eight century BC but there are mentions of similar beings stretching back to around six-thousand BC. I've never actually asked how old they are but a fair guess, I think, would be around three thousand years old. Simply put, old enough for their nature to mature." Harry replied, he suddenly wondered how Euryale would react if he told her to act her age when she was being childish.

And so the questions went on, several of them seemed to make no sense at all such as the location he'd first met them being the shapeless isle or what their, and by extension his, diet had consisted of but Harry answered them all as none seemed to be particularly invasive or anything that would prove useful to anyone who'd try and use it against him.

She let him go when she had finished with her questions, or interrogation as he thought of it, and had just enough about himself to ask her to inform him if anyone chose to come and 'peruse' his file any time soon. She agreed and had given an off hand comment about him not trusting anyone.

"Correct madam, there are very few I trust and I only confide in you because of the oaths you have to swear to become a healer." He told her before he closed the door behind himself.

xxxxx

Harry looked across the battlements, it was a cool evening and Harry was enjoying the evening before he headed back to the tower. He sighed, nothing seemed to be going right lately. First there was Hermione and the way she seemed to almost instantly flip between personalities at the drop of a hat. He'd been worried about her and had analysed her without her knowing, he hadn't found even a trace of compulsion charms or any sort of magic that would make her act like that, he'd even checked her hormone levels dammit! She'd been giving him the cold shoulder for a little over a month now and Harry could see how stressed she was getting, he dreaded the thought of what she'd be like if she hadn't made any friends in Hufflepuff.

The second thing that was pissing him off was Dumbledore, the old coot. From what Harry had heard, the old man was trying to ferret out his family's files using whatever connections he had. Harry wondered where he learned where he'd learned about his family having German and Greek roots, probably by using legilimency on Neville or something. The old man hadn't called him up to his office so far this year but Harry was sure that the bearded old bastard was planning something or other, what he didn't know but he was sure to be plotting something. Pomfrey had sent him a message that the headmaster had decided to 'involve himself further in student welfare' and had looked at 'a random selection of files' as the whiskered wanker had put it, it was a rather transparent excuse really.

The third thing that was irritating him was whatever the Wizengamot were up to, they hadn't been able to get any information on him and his home life at all since they'd first convened. Harry smirked, it was at times like this that he was thankful for how the law was set up. Since Harry had a magical parent they couldn't do much about his guardians without hard evidence that something was up and that was something that Harry knew they didn't have, it was also something that they couldn't fabricate which was a relief.

Fourth on the list of Harry's annoyances was the results of what Madam Pomfrey had had to put in his file. At first glance it was all good things, healing potions would work fine on him, love and lust potions wouldn't and neither would truth serum. The problem was the implications of the last one, he couldn't testify in court. The wizarding world had two methods to determine truthfulness in court, the first being Veritaserum and the second being legilimency. Harry was immune to the first and, as an Occlumens, the second wasn't worth wasting his breath on. This was problematic as it precluded him from even filing a lawsuit against someone when his word was all that he had to use. Simply put, if Hermione hadn't encountered the troll last year then nothing would be done on his say-so because they couldn't verify the truthfulness of his claim.

The fifth that had Harry concerned was how the castle was beginning to smell of snake, a snake that he was guessing to be the basilisk. Harry had noticed that the scent, which used to be focused almost completely around the girl's bathroom where Moaning Myrtle stayed, had spread to the upper floors and was most concentrated around Gryffindor tower.

Harry was really nervous about the basilisk because of several things. One, it was a bloody huge and lethal snake hat would find no difficulty in slaughtering everyone in the school, student or staff. Two, he didn't know if the snake was under a Geass or some other kind of controlling magic that would make his part-Gorgon heritage useless. Harry could control a snake's actions even if a parselmouth was commanding them or if the snake was under a compulsion charm but Stheno and Euryale could command a snake that was subservient to him and Harry couldn't command a serpent that was under he imperious curse or one that had a silencing charm placed on it so it couldn't hear him.

Slytherin wasn't known for being an idiot and had probably tied some kind of magic into the basilisk when it was young or even enchanted the egg so that the binding would hold as the snake grew, both in size and in resistance to magic. If a ritual had been done on the egg then Harry may be able to reverse it if he got a hold of an egg fragment and used a bit of sympathetic magic, not something he used often but it did have its uses.

The sixth and final thing that had Harry ready to tear his hair out was girls. He didn't know if it was something that had started recently or if he had simply not noticed it last year but since he'd noticed Ginevra Weasley doing her fangirl thing it seemed that he was surrounded by them. The odd times that he was in the corridors now, he could always find some girl giggling and blushing or doing something else really stupid, not the sort of thing he'd ever like in a partner.

Since it had started Harry had thought about the kind of characteristics he'd find attractive in a girl. One, no giggling, he didn't mind them laughing and joking but their incessant giggling did his head in. Two, no girly girls, he didn't like the idea of a girl waiting around for her 'prince charming' or 'knight in shining armour'. If a girl was too frail to look after herself then why should he fulfil her fantasies, he liked the thought of strong women who could give as they got, not the 'oh dearie me, I broke a nail!' kind of girls. Three, to understand him, if he was ever going to date a girl then it wouldn't be someone who say 'the-boy-with-the-hyphenated-name' but someone who knew Harry for what he was, someone who would kill to look after his family, someone who didn't care much for the masses, someone who would gladly become evil incarnate if it kept the ones he cared about safe.

Harry thought about all of the girls he knew and had mentally rated them. Hermione, not a giggly girl so a point there. She wasn't obsessed about make-up and was becoming quite a powerful witch in her own right so another tick for her. Someone who understood him, no. She seemed to have started to accept him before all of this erratic behaviour began but acceptance and understanding where two completely different things and she only had one.

Tracey Davis, she wasn't particularly giggly but she, as a Slytherin, always _had_ to look her best and that was something that bored Harry. She had the cunning that her house was renowned for but Harry had seen her talking dresses with Daphne Greengrass and become quite excitable about it, a concept that Harry rolled his eyes at. He liked good looking clothes but he always went for practicality over appearance, the exception was his hair and even that wasn't completely impractical. He had gotten the better of Bazett several times by tying sharp things into his hair so that when she grabbed it in a spar, her hands were stabbed with whatever he'd used that day, it was more practical now that he had such good control over it. The third point, understanding him, wasn't something Tracey had either so he knocked her off his list.

Honestly, the only people that had the qualities he would look for in a girl were all back in his home dimension. Altrouge, Arcueid, Bazett, Aoko, heck Stheno and Euryale had the qualities he'd look for but all those he'd mentioned were way older than he was and he wasn't exactly guaranteed to live beyond a human lifespan. The two heroic spirits that were even now stood at his side were getting to the point that he'd consider them datable if they were girls his age but they, quite obviously, weren't.

Harry sighed again, he wondered when life got so complicated. His philosophy was that if you had a problem then kill it until it wasn't a problem but he doubted that would work here. He would have to kill a number of people on the Wizengamot, someone he had, and still did, consider a friend, Dumbledore, a thousand year old snake and a large number of teenage girls. He wouldn't do that of course, it would take forever to get the blood out of his clothes, but it would definitely be cathartic.

Harry's eyes alighted on the forest and an idea to release the built up stress came to mind. A feral and, if someone in the school saw it, rather disturbing smile appeared on his face.

"Come on girls, we're going to have a little fun." Berserker and Lancer perked up at that.

xxxxx

"Hahahahahahaha!" If any of the fangirls that had been eyeing Harry recently had seen him now then they would probably swear off men for eternity.

Harry's idea of fun had been to enter the forbidden forest and head straight for the acromantula colony. They had a competition going on who could get the most kills, Lancer was winning because of her speed. Harry span his halberd around his head before plunging it right between the eyes of the struggling arachnid that was his latest victim, it gave off a horrible screeching sound before the life faded from its eight eyes.

Harry looked at the death that surrounded him and found that the dead bodies of the acromantula actually relaxed him. Harry snorted, what sort of person was he that he was more comfortable around dead spiders than living humans? He was a monster and he fully admitted that, he'd never properly fit into a regular human life and he saw no use in pretending otherwise. Harry knew that he would probably find his death on a battlefield and not in a bed, he knew that death by old age was unlikely for someone like him, he had too much fire in his veins and the completely wrong temperament.

Harry was sprayed with the blood of another acromantula as Lancer's spear carved through it like a hot knife through butter. An interesting thing about spider blood is that it isn't red like human blood but is a blue colour because it isn't bound with iron like in a human but copper, and now Harry's clothes were coated with it.

"Eighty-seven!" Lancer called out, her score was the highest as her weapon was actually sharp unlike Berserker's and could slice through them and she was much faster than Harry was.

"Seventy-nine!" Berserker called as she took care of another one, her mace crackling with electricity as she struck the spider right on the head. The eyes burst out of its head because of the pressure and coated the already slick ground making the footing even more treacherous.

"Fifty-two!" Harry called, his total far less impressive than his two Servants. Harry had the advantage of range as he kept projecting a bow and arrow that he would use to penetrate an acromantula's eye and destroy the brain. It was the only thing that kept him as close to the others as he was, he didn't have a Servant's ridiculous strength and especially not the A rank speed of Lancer.

Harry looked at all of the acromantula that they had killed, two hundred and eighteen in all, and remembered how valuable their venom was as a potions ingredient.

"Accio Vials." Harry said while Berserker and Lancer kept up their assault. Soon, Harry could see the vials flying through the air towards him.

"Duplicare" Harry said and had to steady himself as he felt the drain on him, unlike 'Geminio' which made a temporary copy 'Duplicare' made a semi-permanent duplicate that wouldn't vanish after a few hours but would disappear with something a little above a finite.

Harry got to work milking all of the acromantula they had killed before making a mound of them in the middle of the clearing. They hadn't been much older than two decades at best, the ideal age for acromantula to fight when they were at their peak, so their venom sacks weren't as big as a fully-grown acromantula but they still got a lot of venom out of it and it would fetch a rather high price seeing as acromantula venom quickly dried up when not immediately harvested.

Harry watched the two girls fight, it was mesmerizing. You could tell straight away that neither of them had any experience at all when it came to combat, they didn't know anything about tactics or weapon forms or anything that a trained combatant would. They relied solely on their speed and strength to win, it was inefficient but it was certainly effective.

Berserker would aim to impede movement by breaking limbs with her large, blunt mace and would then aim for the more critical organs and areas such as the chest or head. She was a force of nature and her metal legs dug into the ground giving her a firm stance in what would otherwise be slippery ground. She was brutal as a fighter, all strength and no consideration for her blows. She often caught an acromantula that she wasn't aiming at in her attacks, the electricity arcing from her weapon to her enemies as she ploughed her way through them.

Lancer in contrast was much faster and instead of bashing her opponents into submission she assailed them with a swift series of jabs wherever her spear could reach, she seemed to favour their eyes and joints. Where Berserker would crush the acromantula's head, Lancer would pierce right through it and destroy the brain, a much quicker death but also far messier as the open wound would spill the overly large spider's blood all over the ground.

Harry kept a fair bit of distance for the most part and kept projecting arrows to fire at the acromantula, with the bow, his arms, his eyes and his brain all reinforced along with the arrow, he was a pretty much perfect shot at this range. He was watching out behind the two Servants so that they didn't get surrounded and he took out the ones that sought to climb the trees and go around them to box them in. Harry kept his ears reinforced at all times so he could hear if any of them tried to sneak up behind them, he wouldn't let them gain any advantage.

Harry got a mental buzz from Len, it seemed that the centaurs had noticed that someone was in the forest and laying waste to the acromantula. He filled up one last bottle of venom before sealing it and tucking it inside his robes, it was a good thing that he'd bothered to learn the unbreakable charm.

"Let's go girls, the ponies are on their way." The two heroic spirits acknowledged him and dispatched their last opponents before joining him as he left the clearing in the direction of the castle. Len, as a cat, soon met up with them as they came to the edge of the forest and onto the school grounds proper.

They raced towards the school wall where Lancer and Berserker astralised and Len jumped into Harry's arms as he ran straight up the side of the building. Looking at Lancer and Berserker jumping between windowsills and gargoyle's was a sight that amused Harry no end, the castle walls were too high for them to take in one jump so they were forced to find alternate means of ascending them.

xxxxx

Harry could smell the scent of pumpkin wafting through the entire school as the house elves prepared for tomorrow's feast. It was Friday the thirtieth of October and Harry was going to spend the weekend at the clock tower as he always did, it just so happened that he would be there for Halloween as well. Harry didn't mind as he didn't really care much for that particular day, it was the day he was orphaned and the way the wizarding world celebrated that fact turned his stomach.

It didn't seem to occur to them that they were also celebrating the deaths of Harry's original family, the ones who should be regarded as heroes and not him. Harry firmly believed that he had had nothing to do with the defeat of Voldemort past being a kind of bait for the man. He thought that it was most likely some kind of ritual that Lily Potter had done that had been fully activated when Voldemort tried to kill him, that was what made most sense to him at least.

He supposed that he should expect no better from the wizarding world, Lily Potter was a muggle-born and so it was much easier to believe that a child from an ancient and noble house, a half-blood true, had received some kind of protection from the dreaded dark lord than it was to believe that a muggle-born had been instrumental in the defeat of someone championing pureblood supremacy.

Harry wasn't looking forward to that day's lessons as he had both double History of Magic and double Defence against the Dark Arts, both Binns and Lockhart back to back was going to be a nightmare. Binns was informative so far as goblin rebellions went and Harry was glad of how factually represented it was but he had the suspicion that wizards had made themselves look better than they actually were, completely expected after all as the victors write the history as it were.

It was in Lockhart's class that Harry actually managed to have a little fun. The professor didn't seem to get the message that Harry would prefer it if the two of them were on opposite sides of the planet, or perhaps even further, and since the pixies incident hadn't brought anything else to class.

Instead he acted out scenes from his books and often called Harry up to help him with the demonstrations. Harry agreed, which surprised many in the class, but he did it so he could have some fun. He constantly let out a small amount of killing intent during the demonstrations and watched as Lockhart seemed to develop a nervous tick but today would be even better, they were going over his defeat of the wagga wagga werewolf and Lockhart had just asked him to howl.

Harry had never heard a werewolf howl before but he had heard Primate Murder and he took a deep breath and concentrated on the very feel of the beast of Gaia's howl, the fear factor in it, the sheer horror it invoked and let loose with his best impersonation as he flooded the room with his killing intent too.

Everyone in the room froze once again as they felt Harry's intent to kill wash over them but this time there was something else, that howl. They couldn't know this, having never heard the original, but that was a pale shadow of the real thing. What they did know was that it was a terrifying noise that spoke to their primal instincts and they started a mad dash to the door out of the room to escape it.

Lancer and Berserker were laughing heartily at it all but Harry had a sour look on his face, Lockhart had pissed on him in fright before passing out. Harry pointed his wand to were the urine was and cast a quick spell to get rid of it and clean himself up before he looked at Blondie on the floor.

"Really, how does he get away with all those claims in his books if he passes out because of a student?" Harry just shook his head, the question had been rhetorical anyway. He picked up his bag and stuffed all of the books in there, these books were unworthy of respect because of who the author was, before he also headed out of the classroom.

On the other side of the door he came upon Hermione who had been sending him looks lately. She opened her mouth as if to say something but shut it again almost instantly before fleeing, it seemed that she'd almost spoken to him for the first time in almost two months. Harry pushed her out of his mind, if she wanted to talk to him then she should just damn well talk to him and not dance about it like she was.

Harry headed for his tower and packed away the books before getting ready to leave for the weekend, he was looking forward to speaking with all of his family and Aoko was apparently due in the clock tower this weekend and he hadn't seen her for ages. He looked around the place and wondered what this ominous feeling he was getting was caused by but shook it off. After all, what could happen before he got back?


	23. Huh, So That's Who You Are

AN: More of a delay than I'm really happy with between this chapter and the last but I have certain things occupying my time right now. The way that this year is going to unfold will probably be somewhat more removed than canon was for the Philosopher's stone and it will get further and further apart as time goes by and more elements come into play that lead things in new and interesting directions. For all you who think Hermione has the diary, you're wrong though I may give it to her depending on the mood I'm in when some of the pivotal points come up in this year just for the heck of it. As always the forum can be found either on my profile or here : forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

I hope you all enjoy the chapter.

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 23 – Huh, So That's Who You Are

Harry adjusted his belt as he walked into Hogwarts on the morning of Monday the second of November. It had been good to see Aoko again as she was a rather infrequent visitor at the Clock Tower, she was always out somewhere else in the world doing something or other.

Despite being such an irregular visitor to the Clock Tower, she always brought back interesting gifts and this time she had given Harry a set of a dozen black keys. She had been curious about the charms that linked Harry's wand to its holster and asked him to experiment to see if he could get the same charm on the blades, the one that returns it to its holster after a set amount of time.

Harry had found the charm in the standard book of spells grade five by Miranda Goshawk and told Aoko that he would practice the charm over the next week or two, once he did that then he'd be happy to apply it to whatever she wanted. Harry had decided to wear a belt with the black keys in holsters, six on either side. It wasn't as if someone could tell him off as they looked like hilts without a blade as they were.

He hadn't been able to resist a last training session with Bazett that morning and, as such, didn't arrive at Hogwarts until breakfast was under-way. There was a lot of chatter that morning, more than usual, and Harry reinforced his ears to hear what was being said.

"... Yeah, Filch found her..."

"...Damn cat, I wonder how it was done?"

"... Weasley is saying it's Potter. Do you really think he'd do it?"

"... I'd have liked to give the decrepit old mog a good kicking myself but what happened was something else."

Harry walked into the hall and everything went quiet for a moment. Raising an eyebrow at this, Harry simply shook his head and wandered over to the Hufflepuff table so he could get his breakfast.

Surreptitiously looking around the hall, his eyes hidden behind his blindfold, Harry looked at how everyone was regarding him. Some, like the Weasley twins, looked at him as if he'd done something praise-worthy though what that could be he didn't know. Some like Zacharias Smith were sneering at him as if he had become dirt that they'd rather a servant cleaned off their shoe. Others, like Hermione, were looking at him as if he had answers they wanted but what question was being asked was beyond him.

Weasel was glaring at him as if he'd declared himself the next dark lord or something, a common expression for Weasel to wear but it seemed to have intensified since Friday.

"So Harry, how did you do it?" Harry looked across the table and to the left at Susan Bones, the one who'd asked him the question.

"How did I do what exactly?" He should have known not to jinx it but him and he had damned himself with that remark on Friday.

"What you did to Mrs. Norris of course!" Harry didn't know what had happened to Mrs. Norris, she was a cat and she knew a predator when she smelled one and stayed out of Harry's way, something Harry himself was rather grateful for.

"What happened to Mrs. Norris and why do you automatically assume it was me who did it?" Tilting his head to one side he wondered if everything weird at Hogwarts was going to be attributed to him simply because he was the 'boy-who-lived' or some other hyphenated title.

Everyone around him gave him flat looks as if they didn't believe him for an instant before Ernie Macmillan spoke up. "Filch found Mrs. Norris petrified outside a girl's bathroom on the second floor this Halloween. There was a message next to her body that read : THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE." Harry didn't know why but he imagined the message in capital letters, he decided to ignore it as Hannah Abbot continued the explanation.

"Dumbledore had everyone rushed to their common rooms and had a register of all students done, the only person that was missing was you and no one had seen you since the day before. There's also the matter of the weird magic you used against Malfoy last year as well as whatever you did to that troll, people are thinking that you're responsible for it. Some people think it's brilliant since it got Filch's cat and no one likes her, some people think it's done in bad taste and Ron Weasley says it's you experimenting with dark magic but only a few people are listening to him." That actually made a bit of sense, it was a damn shame that it was done in such a way that he didn't have an alibi outside of people that he knew and he wondered if that was done on purpose.

"So where were you?" Smith sneered at Harry. Zacharias Smith was pretty much the opposite of a traditional Hufflepuff, he was Lazy and opinionated and didn't get along with many people. It was thought that he only got into Hufflepuff house because he was supposedly descended from Helga Hufflepuff herself, something the boy bragged and boasted about often.

"I was where I am every weekend, out of the castle." Harry replied with a frost in his voice. "This is the first I've heard about any of this so excuse me if I can't answer questions about culpability." Sighing, he returned to his meal.

Harry once again scanned the room to see how people were reacting to him, he reinforced his ears and searched for any conversations that were about him.

"Do you really think it's Potter?"

"Yeah, he has weird magic, no telling what he can actually do."

"The heir of Slytherin, really?"

"Wasn't You-Know-Who the last heir of Slytherin?"

"Are you saying that Potter has replaced He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"Potter was missing on Saturday."

"Potter always disappears on weekends, nothing new there."

"I wonder where he goes."

"Not like he'd tell anyone, is it?"

Public opinion seemed to be divided, a lot of them seemed to think him capable of it but they didn't know whether he would or not. He was personally curious about this petrification, the fact that his mystic eyes transformed something by an alchemical effect meant that, even if converted back to flesh and blood, the target was dead but some snippets of conversation indicated that Mrs. Norris was alive and, as such, couldn't be done the same way.

A shadow fell across Harry who sighed and looked up to the Headmaster with Mcgonagall and Snape flanking him, this was just going to make the rumours worse and Harry could well imagine that the staff would do nothing to quell them.

"Would you be so kind as to accompany me to my office Mr. Potter?" The headmaster may have phrased it as a question but Harry knew that he meant it more as a command than anything else. Just what was the headmaster thinking doing this so openly, was he trying to create rumours about him?

"Very well headmaster. If you would lead the way?" Even with two heroic spirits to watch his back and the succubus settled around his neck, Harry wasn't going to take any unnecessary risks and that included turning his back to skilled wizards.

xxxxx

Harry followed the three of them up to the headmaster's rooms, none of them speaking to each other. Mcgonagall had a pinched expression on her face and her lips were pressed together in a thin line, Dumbledore looked as he always did with his long beard hiding his facial expressions and that ever-present twinkle in his eye. Snape simply looked bored, Harry knew that, of all of them, Snape was the least likely to suspect him of assaulting that cat.

They soon arrived at the gargoyle that guarded the headmaster's office and the bearded old man gave the password, 'Walker's Crisps', before all four of them ascended the moving staircase. The staircase moved slowly, Harry was sure it was to give an impression of stateliness, and it took them a while to reach the top.

When they did reach the top, they walked into Dumbledore's office where the headmaster sat himself behind his desk and both Snape and Mcgonagall conjured chairs either side of the old coot. Snape's chair was simple black leather that he settled into while Mcgonagall had gone for a Gryffindor red one with carvings of lions up the legs, a bit showy but conjuration was an advanced aspect of transfiguration which she had a mastery in.

Harry applied a few cushioning charms to the chair that sat before the headmaster's desk before taking a seat. Harry leaned back into the chair and waited silently for whatever they were going to say, Len had made her way to his lap and, unseen to all but him, the two Heroic Spirits took up flanking positions for him like the two heads of house had done for Dumbledore.

The silence between them dragged on.

Harry didn't fidget but remained completely placid while he tried to think of what they were going to ask. They knew that he was out of the castle on the weekends but, seeing as how he spent so little time with other students, an alibi for him was very often impossible to corroborate.

The first one to fidget was Mcgonagall, Dumbledore had told her and Severus to watch Harry to see if he gave any evidence of involvement but he hadn't moved a muscle. She had told herself that she would look at Harry with fresh eyes this year but he was such a difficult person to pin down. His body language gave nothing away, his eyes were obscured by that blindfold of his and he didn't talk much to anyone so there wasn't much about him that she could form an opinion of. The only things she knew about him were really what she had gleaned from the conversations when she'd taken him through Diagon Alley.

His philosophy of killing an enemy didn't sit too well with her and she hadn't been particularly involved in the last war, Voldemort had left Hogwarts alone and that is where she was for the duration of the conflict, and she had heard Albus constantly speak of second chances.

Severus was one of those second chances and she thought that proved Albus right, if a second chance was given then people could be redeemed. She knew that Lily's death had played a major part in Severus' change in opinion but that was a thought that she kept suppressed.

She remembered when Severus himself had been a student and James Potter and his friends had been there too. The two of them had sparks flying from the get go, not unlike the way Mr. Potter had made instant enemies of Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy. The difference was in the way that they interacted, Harry didn't have much contact with them, or anyone else for that matter, while Severus and James' group had been in a constant state of war with each other.

She remembered the many pranks and tricks that had occurred throughout their time at Hogwarts, often escalating into minor duels, but as far as she knew there hadn't been anything inherently lethal in all of it. That was a major difference between James and his son, the former would get even with humiliation while the latter would wait until you crossed a line before giving you something to remember, the scar that the young Mr. Weasley now sported being evidence of that.

Severus himself merely watched the other three in the room, almost unblinking. He thought that Harry would probably have been capable of what had happened to Mrs. Norris, and if not then he could have found out rather easily, but he didn't actually believe the boy had done it. Harry never did anything without a reason and there seemed to be no link between him and the attack on the cat, the only evidence for it was he was unaccounted for when role was called. That was exceptionally flimsy evidence, Harry was never in the castle on a weekend anyway and besides that Mrs. Norris always seemed to avoid the boy for some reason. There was no way of knowing how long the cat had been there and someone could have easily mingled with the crowd after they'd done the deed so Dumbledore's supposition that Harry was involved was rather weak.

It was more likely that the headmaster was trying to find out more about Harry and all things connected with him and was using the attack as an opportunity to question him. Despite all that had been done, both with the headmaster's private resources and the Wizengamot, the boy was still mostly an unknown. Severus was intrigued, and somewhat curious himself, about how he remained so and what he was actually capable of.

All three of them could tell that the boy was powerful, he might restrain his power and limit it but there were still indicators of what lay beneath the surface. They'd heard about what what had happened that lesson when Lockhart had Harry emulate a werewolf from one of his books and Mcgonagall had been in the staffroom just down from the room, she'd heard something that had made her shudder and pull her robes tighter around herself.

Dumbledore maintained his silent observation of the boy across from him, the enigma, the oddity, the uncertain element, the one person he understood the least. He was usually such a good judge of character, he could understand what made people tick, what made them pay attention, their virtues and vices but there was an exception, Harry Potter.

Mcgonagall liked positive feedback, she didn't get particularly involved with Gryffindor house what with the other responsibilities she had so a lack of negative feedback was enough to satisfy her. She also listened to Albus and obeyed quite easily as proven the evening he had left baby Harry with the Dursleys, she was someone he could understand.

Snape was rather indifferent to everyone he met and held antagonistic views to what he saw as the legacy of his misfortune. The Weasley twins reminded him of the Marauders and if Snape ever caught them then they were punished far more severely than they otherwise would be, it was a miracle that his hatred of James Potter hadn't been transferred to Harry. It was quite obvious why the hatred hadn't been transferred, the boy was nothing like his father, not in appearance and not in personality. Snape could quite easily see Harry as just another student because of that which the boy was fine with. There was also the side of Severus that Dumbledore played on whenever he needed something from him, his guilt. It was only Lily Potter and her being in danger that had turned Severus away from Voldemort, her death at his hands had cemented that.

There were many others that Dumbledore could name that he could manipulate and pressure to his way, those that he couldn't he could still read and understand rather well. The boy across from him was the exception, his eyes were obscured by that blindfold he wore and as such gave nothing away, his face was flat and neutral with no quirk of the lips, furrowed brow or raised eyebrows, which stopped him reading anything there. Harry's posture was upright yet comfortable, formal enough for a meeting between lords while also being simple enough for two close friends, an enviable quality about him. The muscles in the boy's muscles were well-toned and flexible, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice yet lacked any kind of threatening presence.

The silence dragged on and still no one said anything, Harry was content to wait as long as necessary and Dumbledore was waiting for Harry to feel pressured. The stalemate couldn't go on forever though and it was the Transfiguration professor that broke the silence.

"This is ridiculous." She said. "Mr. Potter is there anything you can tell us about what happened to Mrs. Norris on Halloween?"

Harry turned to face her and answered with a bland and emotionless voice. "As I have been out of the castle all weekend I don't think I have anything I can offer you. The first thing I knew about this was when I entered the Great Hall this morning for breakfast and overheard the whispers, it seems that people think me the most likely suspect for a few minor reasons."

Dumbledore joined the conversation now. "What kinds of reasons did they give? It seems rather telling when the students all believe something and it would be a good idea to rebuff those accusations at the soonest opportunity."

Yeah right, Harry believed that Dumbledore knew full well what the students were saying. The old coot would probably leave the rumours alone until he had no choice otherwise and then play the 'well I didn't know' card or the 'my hands were tied' card saying that he had no authority over rumours or something.

"I don't interact much with my peers and that means not many people know me well. That leads to people attributing things to me without justification because 'it just might be possible' and that evolves into 'fact'. People didn't understand the magic I used against Malfoy in that duel last year and that equates to people saying I have 'mysterious powers', the troll last year was turned to stone by me and that has been connected to whatever has happened to Mrs. Norris, without seeing the cat myself I have no way of verifying that. I heard that you took all the students back to their common rooms and took role, seeing as I'm never in the castle on a weekend I was obviously missing from that. The fact that I was the only one missing when registers were taken has made me more suspect in their minds despite the fact that no one knows when Mrs. Norris was attacked or how much time the attacker had to mingle with their peers again." All they had was circumstantial evidence, exceptionally flimsy circumstantial evidence at that.

"I see. Is there anyone who can corroborate your alibi?" Dumbledore asked, he seemed to be fishing for names seeing as he couldn't find anything about his guardians.

"I spent most of my time with Altrouge and Aoko, not that I expect you to recognise those names. Is there anything else you want to know headmaster?" There, it wasn't like those names would lead the old coot anyway either. Aoko was a japanese name so he might start looking even further abroad for him, another wild goose chase that amused Harry.

"I suppose asking you about how Mrs. Norris came to be in the state she's in is useless. There is also the nature of the message that was left behind." Dumbledore mused.

"Seeing as I haven't seen Mrs. Norris then I can't exactly give an opinion on what happened to her and as I haven't seen the message then there's not a lot I could say about that either." Harry told them.

They remained there for a little longer, Dumbledore trying to wheedle out facts about Harry and his home life but he was shut down straight away, given vague answers that could mean anything or given things that would lead him nowhere. Snape remained impassive, neither contributing to the conversation or doing anything but sit there and watch the verbal war between the old man and the young boy. Mcgonagall seemed rather uncomfortable, she'd said she would look at Harry like a blank canvas without her impression being coloured by either of his parents or what she thought previously but, when something went wrong, her mind had instantly jumped to the odd child.

xxxxx

Eventually they had to leave or be late for their first lessons of the day, Harry left first while Dumbledore held the two professors back for a moment to discuss what had been said.

"He is far too impersonal, he will fall into darkness unless he is helped out of it." Dumbledore said, in truth Harry was reminding him rather strongly of another student he'd once taught. Tom Riddle had been a Slytherin, believed to be a muggle-born when he'd arrived at Hogwarts and that wasn't a house that looked well on them even if it had been far more mild fifty years ago than it was today, being an orphan without money or influence hadn't helped.

Tom Riddle had had perhaps the worst start to Hogwarts that someone could, an orphan without money, influence, power, prestige or previous experience with magic and sorted into the most cut-throat of the four houses. He hadn't stayed that way though, he had climbed from the bottom to the top of the food chain and hadn't alienated the other houses in the process. He had been the epitome of Slytherin house, ambitious enough to aim for the top and cunning enough to see those ambitions through. Dumbledore had watched the boy, he well remembered the manipulative child that he'd met at the orphanage, and had seen how the Notts, Lestranges, Mcnairs and other 'dark' families began to surround the boy and became what would one day be known as Lord Voldemort's inner circle.

He had been wary and cautious of him, keeping an eye on him whenever he could but alas, Tom had still fallen into the dark arts despite his best attempts at stopping him and Dumbledore was sure that Harry would follow that same path. The only way out of it was if Dumbledore directed him to where he should be, the light. It was a shame that the Potter heir had to die before Tom could but Dumbledore had tried to plan for that with the marriage contract he'd tried to draw up with young Ginny Weasley.

The Weasleys were a good example of a light family, Arthur was fascinated by muggles and would be a good ally in uniting the muggle and wizarding worlds together, Molly was motherly to all of her brood and any strays that she could get a hold of. Bill, the eldest, was a curse-breaker which was a respected and lucrative trade, Charlie was a dragon handler and a strong wizard, someone who would be good to have at your back. The Weasley children currently in Hogwarts seemed to be following in their parents' and siblings' footsteps, Percy was someone who always stuck to the rules, there was no chance of him ever going dark, the twins were like the Marauders.

Dumbledore remembered the Marauders fondly, their jokes and pranks had kept him amused no end, some said they degenerated into bullying but that couldn't be as they were pranksters. They joked and laughed, it was a shame that not everyone had seen that. There was that one incident where Black had almost gotten Severus killed but that had turned out alright so that wasn't a problem. The Weasley twins were practically tame compared to their predecessors though and Dumbledore wondered what would have been if the two groups could ever meet, Rampant chaos came to mind and laughter would sound throughout the halls as well. There would be those who didn't see the humour of it but you couldn't please everyone.

It was the two youngest Weasleys that Dumbledore concerned himself with the most. He had set Ronald Weasley up to befriend the boy but that had failed spectacularly and driven a wedge between them that showed no signs of ending. Ronald Weasley was one of the easiest people to read and 'encourage' in the right direction, his motivations obvious. If he had befriended Harry then Dumbledore could have easily directed the boy away from the dark path he seemed to be heading towards.

Ginny Weasley was also easy to read, her adoration of the boy-who-lived was clear for all to see. He remembered hearing from Molly the various games she played where she pretended to marry Harry Potter and play house with him, she would have been a good mother to any children she bore and seemed to be the ideal girl to marry Harry off to. The Weasleys were purebloods, if blood traitors, and the Potter wealth could have rejuvenated the family bringing them the prestige they had lost over a century ago.

"I don't know about that Albus." Minerva said, breaking the headmaster's train of thought. "He seems to be a rather anti-social person but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll go dark." Her voice betrayed her uncertainty, she didn't think that he would but she didn't exactly know Harry very well. The boy she'd bounced on her knee over a decade ago was now something completely different and she found it hard to think about them being one and the same.

"If I remember right, Potter said that magic is magic and it is the intent behind it that really matters." Snape said, his first contribution to this conversation. "The more you try and interfere with him, the further away you drive him headmaster. He is rather independent if nothing else."

Dumbledore sighed. "Very well, I'll keep your words in mind. It's best if you leave now, you have lessons to teach after all."

Mcgonagall and Snape left the headmaster's office for their respective classrooms as Dumbledore himself sat down and contemplated Harry Potter. He was sure that what information he'd gained from the boy was probably true but he also knew that Harry was too smart to give him something he could use. He sat back and wondered how this year would progress and what role Harry would play in what was to come.

xxxxx

Harry kept an eye and an ear open for the rest of the week, he wanted to know what the student body thought about him in regards to whatever had happened regarding Mrs. Norris. Thankfully, most thought that he hadn't done it and it was mostly them playing devil's advocate that said it was him. There was a lot of people guessing who the 'heir of Slytherin' was and about the Chamber of Secrets, Harry was more interested in the latter rather than the former.

Harry knew that the Chamber of Secrets actually existed because of what that painting of a snake that guarded the entrance to Salazar's library had told him. The difficulty lay in finding it, all of the usual areas would have been searched already and Harry thought that only an idiot would put it somewhere obvious.

The Great Hall would be a bad hiding place for the entrance as would anywhere that people often congregated like the library or the common rooms. The best place to hide it would be somewhere that nobody would look but was also somewhere no one would look for a hidden passageway. A random alcove or behind a random painting wasn't exactly a good idea as there were so many hidden entrances and passageways behind them that they would all be at least a little suspect.

The chamber would probably of a far larger size than a classroom or other such area and, as such, it wouldn't be somewhere that people would notice the missing floorspace. It was at times like this that he really wished he had a map of the school so he could see where there would be a large enough blank for this chamber to fit.

Harry looked up at the wall in front of him, it was where the message had been written. The message itself was written with rooster blood, something that supported the idea of it being a basilisk as the rooster's call is fatal to it. Harry suddenly had an idea and double checked that he was alone down this corridor.

_'I've just thought of something'_ He mentally conveyed to his Servants.

_'What is it?'_ Lancer asked, she was currently only inches from the message on the wall and was scrutinising it closely. _'Because I think I've got something to say about the handwriting here, It's done like someone young and by that I mean someone who is perhaps barely a teenager. I'd also guess it to be a boy's handwriting but done with a girl's more delicate hands.'_

_'Useful to know, there was a case of possession last year so maybe something like that's happening again. I was just thinking about the location of the attack'_ Harry told them. _'This is the second floor so if the attacker came from the dungeons or basement then they'd have had to risk passing by a lot of potential witnesses. The same is true if they came from a tower or one of the upper floors.'_

_'You think the entrance is somewhere nearby is what you're saying'_ Berserker finished for him.

Harry nodded. _'This is also where I felt the presence of the snake at the end of last year too, perhaps Mrs. Norris was simply the first one that the attacker encountered rather than it being premeditated.'_

_'That's logical'_ Berserker mused. _'Besides which, who would look for a legendary chamber in a girl's bathroom unless it was a legendary chamberpot' _She remarked drily.

_'We'll be coming back here tonight when I have my invisibility cloak with me, perhaps we'll find some indication of where the chamber entrance is hidden or a clue which will lead us there.'_ Harry told them before heading off with them flanking him.

xxxxx

It was during one of Harry's free periods when he suddenly felt a hand on either shoulder, his Servants had told him of the approaching redheads and Harry had been curious what they wanted. He had been heading to the library to see what he could unearth about the Chamber of Secrets and see if there were any hints in a book as to its location.

He didn't jump or act surprised when Fred and George Weasley directed him into an unused classroom, he had Len, Lancer and Berserker with him after all so there really wasn't anything to be scared of. The two Gryffindor pranksters seemed far more serious than Harry had ever seen them before and he saw them not infrequently. The two of them were probably his closest friends at Hogwarts behind Neville and Hermione, when the latter had her head on straight anyway. They liked to try and prank Harry but said boy always kept an eye out and they'd yet to succeed which had spawned a mini competition between them. They would try and prank Harry who would avoid it and get them back, he'd once managed to do a simple switching spell when he'd realised the pumpkin juice in his goblet was one of their pranks and turn it on them.

Harry watched as the twins threw up a few privacy spells and Harry followed suit, he had a few books that they wouldn't have access to seeing as he shopped in Knocturn Alley as well as Diagon.

"Is there something you need from me?" Harry asked the two and watched as the twins looked at each other for several moments, obviously discussing things like close twins do and it seemed that they came to some kind of agreement.

"Well, It's just that there's something we think you should know." Fred said.

"Do you feel as if you've been followed, like since the start of the year or something?" George continued.

Harry raised an eyebrow and simply inclined his head for them to go on.

"It's just that we know there are two people following you wherever you go but we can't see anyone with you when you're supposed to be alone." Fred told him.

"We'd have come to you earlier but we wanted to know as much about them as possible before that."

"We were rather surprised to find a lot about them in muggle books."

"And we wondered if you were aware you were being followed by them."

"Because what the books say isn't exactly nice."

Harry raised a hand to stop them, they'd started to talk faster and alternate speakers faster as well. Did they really say what he thought they'd said? The implications if that were so were rather unexpected.

"I think I may know what the two of you are speaking about but would you please explain how you know about it? This is important as, if you are on about what I think you are, then this should remain as secret as possible."

The twins then looked at each other for a while before once again coming to an agreement. Fred reached into his robes as George spoke to him.

"You're not a bad sort Harry. Our brother might think you're some kind of evil lord set on making a Hufflepuff army to take over the world but you've never given anyone any trouble that hasn't troubled you first."

Fred then continued on from his brother, an old bit of parchment in his hand. "We're entrusting one of our greater secrets to you with this, it has to do with our idols, the Marauders. In our first year when we were innocent." Cue flat stare that made itself known even through s blindfold.. "Well, more innocent than we are now then. We had gotten caught by Filch who took us down to his office."

George took over here. "There, sticking out of a filing cabinet, was this. It was just begging to be stolen so, after a rather hastily done distraction, we nabbed it. It looked just like any ordinary bit of parchment but stains faded off it and it reacted to spells that detect magic so we tried to work it out."

Fred flattened the parchment out on a table as he continued. "It took some time but we eventually found out that there was a password on it."

"It was something that had been etched into four of the beds in our dormitory, we found it underneath when Fred dropped a pair of socks under there. The Marauder oath – I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." George said with his wand touching the parchment.

Lines spread out from where George's wand connected to the parchment and spread in all directions, splitting and converging at various points until words blossomed across the top of the parchment. Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP.

"The Marauders, that was what my father and his friends were known as when they were at school. They were pranksters too." Harry muttered and the Weasley twins' eyes went wide at that, not that Harry noticed as he was searching for the room he was currently in.

Scanning across the map in general, Harry found a number of names of people he recognised and others he didn't. The professors were all accounted for and Harry saw the names of students he knew, other names were probably students he didn't know. There was a number of dark blue dots moving about the kitchens that Harry assumed were house-elves as no names were given for them but there was a dot on the fourth flour that bore the label 'Peeves' so it definitely showed ghosts.

He found the room he was currently in and took note of the names that were there. Fred and George Weasley were obvious and 'Harry Potter' was also there but the other three names really caught his attention. 'Len' was one that probably wouldn't get the twins' attention as the map also showed Mrs. Norris in the hospital wing but the other two names were two that they wouldn't have expected.

Standing behind and slightly to the left of Harry's dot was another with the label 'Elizabeth Bathory' and behind Harry and slightly to the right was 'Frankenstein's Monster'. Harry closed his eyes and stood up straight.

_'Were you two afraid that I would hate you because of this? I told you before that I don't care for what happened before but what happens from now on. So will you accept that I accept you two, Liz? Fran?'_ Harry thought to the two girls.

He felt the both of them freeze when he addressed them as such and a glance back showed him that they had been unnerved by this and didn't know what to say.

_'Forgetting what I'd think about it for a minute, what should we do about these two. You heard that they researched your names before coming to me and I'm sure that they've found out that one of you is supposedly fictional and the other dead so what should we tell them?'_

Harry looked at the two of them for a long moment before some of the tension left Liz's posture and she looked between Fran and Harry. _'We need them to keep this secret so the best thing to do would be to explain what we are and that's it. Do you trust them master?'_

Harry thought about that for a moment. _'They came directly to me with this rather than a professor or the headmaster which is a point to them and as far as trusting them goes, I suppose there are far worse confidants available. This map is something unique and them entrusting the secret to me when they're concerned for my well-being seals the deal for me, what about you two.'_

Fran is the first one to answer. _'That they were concerned about your safety to begin with and found out all they could is admirable. If you will trust them then I will too master.'_

Liz nodded her head too. _'Very well, I too will trust in them insofar as knowing what we are goes. It may be a good idea to introduce them to occlumency though. I don't know how long they've had this secret but it would be best if they could keep it just that, a secret.'_

Harry looked up at the twins who'd been watching him look at, what was to them, thin air before turning back to them. Harry sighed and put one hand on the back of his head, how to explain Heroic Spirits to the Weasley twins.

Throwing up a quick and shoddy boundary field to add another layer of privacy Harry looked at the two of them before he started to explain what was going on. "Fred, George, there are beings known as Heroic Spirits. What this means is that those who are remembered by people a long time from now and those who we know from the past are immortalised in the hall of heroes. Heroic does not necessarily mean a good guy though, they merely have to be remembered and it doesn't matter if it's in a good or bad light."

Fred spoke up. "So someone like you could become a Heroic Spirit then? I mean, everyone's heard of you at least and that's not just in England either." George was nodding with his twin but Harry shook his head.

"I may be remembered but only by the wizarding world which is but a fraction of the world considering how outnumbered by muggles you are. The people who can be heroic spirits are people like King Arthur, Richard the Lionheart, Christopher Columbus and Joan of Arc. People who are remembered by a majority of people become Heroic Spirits, I might become a Heroic Spirit myself but I wouldn't bet on it, Voldemort himself may also become a Heroic Spirit but I doubt anyone would want to summon him."

Fred and George shuddered at Voldemort's name but their expressions when they tried to picture someone trying to summon him were priceless, Harry wished he had a camera on him right then.

"There are also the legends which are drastically wrong. The legend of Medusa the Gorgon has her with hair of snakes and devouring men, turning them to stone merely by looking directly at her." Harry paused for a moment here, directly at her! That was an idea that he would have to think on later. "In truth Athena, a Greek goddess, was jealous and turned the people who worshipped the Gorgons against them."

Fred and George nodded at that, they could believe that the truth gets distorted over time. They were concerned about the two that Harry was currently with rather than any others though and asked if they could see them. Harry thought about it for a moment before asking the girls their opinions.

They had been expecting monstrous looking people, their appearance reflecting the legends about them. They expected one to be covered in stitches and badly lined up body parts as the legend had Frankenstein's monster being made from a variety of different corpses. They had not expected it to be a woman, a good looking one at that. Her skin was flawless and she wore a puffy out dress that reached to just past her knees. Her legs were made of metal and they could see large metal things covering her where her ears would be as well as the horn on her head but she still looked an absolute beauty. The large mace she had in her hands did unnerve them somewhat, it could obviously function as a weapon but, then again, a wand could quite easily be a deadly weapon too.

The other one was also rather cute despite the non-human appendages she sported. The horns on her head gave her a somewhat demonic look but her petite build made her look far too innocent for that. She had pointy ears, like an elf from muggle literature and beautiful blue-green eyes. Like the other one, she also wore detached sleeves but hers were more arty than the simple ones Frankenstein's monster sported. Her dress was unlike anything seen in the wizarding world, they preferred much more modest clothing than the muggles did, and the forked tail that poked out of the bottom was just another charm point rather than something to despise with her. She wore shin length boots with high heels and rather pointy toes on her feet, just below some kind of pattern of diamonds on her legs. When she put one hand on her hip the two redheads noticed that she didn't actually have fingers but claws and when she smiled at them her fangs were quite visible.

Fred and George both stared at the two women who had appeared from thin air right before them, this really wasn't what they expected when they'd read the history books about 'the countess of blood' or the book by Mary Shelly that had a male monster, they'd expected monstrous looking people but they seemed to be... well, not normal but rather more personable than they might otherwise have been.

"Alright you two, pick your jaws up off the floor. As you can see from their appearance alone, the legends don't exactly get things right all of the time." Harry said, amused by the two of them. "Regardless of all of that, I have a question for you two. Do you know anything about occlumency?"

Harry hadn't expected the two to grin at the question. "Yeah, we know about it." Fred said.

"Not much point pulling a prank unless we can get away with it, is there?" George added.

"If it's your secrets that you wish us to keep then consider it done."

"They'll never get it from us!"

Harry face-palmed at the two of them as they saluted him at the end, they sure could bounce back from anything if nothing else. This action brought something to the attention of both redheads however who let out a low whistle.

"What?" Harry asked. He looked at the two of them and saw their eyes focused on his hand, more specifically the the ring on said hand.

"Unless my eyes are deceiving me that is one of the bonding rings the old houses used to use, what are you doing wearing hat Harry?" Fred asked with wide eyes.

"Some people keep trying to set up marriage contracts with the 'boy-who-lived' and Zelretch has turned them all down. The only other method of non-consensual marriage, aside love potions and compulsive spells, is a betrothal ritual. The way around a betrothal ritual is to already be engaged or married and I have been engaged since I was eleven." Harry confided in them then decided to point the conversation in one particular direction. "One of those marriage contracts was for your sister, you wouldn't be able to add anything to that, would you?"

The twins shared another look before speaking to Harry again, their infernal twin speech giving him the beginnings of a headache.

"Our little Gin-Gin has always been rather obsessed with you."

"Mum didn't help, more like encouraged it."

"She used to pretend marriages and play games themed around you."

"Mum has also been talking about you coming over our place during the holidays."

"Ronniekins wasn't too happy to hear that."

"She has gotten worse about it all."

"I think mum pictures you joining us and then it's all happy family."

"Not that we're against that but you don't seem too interested in little Gin-Gin."

"And now it seems like someone already has a claim on you."

"So who is he lucky girl who has captured the heart of Gin's 'One True Love'?"

That last line was said with Fred clutching at his heart and batting his eyes theatrically, rather amusing all told. Harry cracked a grin at it and decided to humour the two of them.

"Altrouge Brunestud, a vampire princess that is several thousand years old and has a rather sadistic streak when someone wakes her up from a nap. She was here at the end of last year, when I was in the hospital wing, she was the one with red eyes and black hair and looks about fourteen."

The twins thought back to the ones who had come to see Harry, and also joined him for meals, last year. There had been the two girls with purple hair and eyes, there had been two guys as well, one elder gentlemen that an air of mischief about him and a younger guy who seemed rather laid back. The last one there had been that black haired girl with red eyes that didn't leave Harry's side, it seemed Ginny really didn't have a chance if how close she stuck to him was any indicator.

"Is it a requirement that all females associated with you have to be hot or something?" Fred asked and Harry laughed, he wondered if Fred realised he'd said that aloud and, if the blush was anything to go by, it seemed he had.

Chuckling, Harry managed to reply to the older boy. "No but I do seem rather blessed by their company, don't I?"

The five of them remained in that room for the rest of the free period, Fred and George coming to accept the two Servants despite what they'd read about and once again promising to keep the secret. Harry did manage to speak to them about borrowing the map some time as he wanted to look at the spells it was made from and try to replicate it. Len remained in cat form for now, just because one secret was out didn't mean he was going to divulge them all.

xxxxx

It was in Harry's next History of Magic lesson when the situation between himself and Hermione was resolved, at least temporarily that is. The lesson had been going as any other, most of the students either asleep or not far off, Hermione being the only one taking notes on what Binns was saying while Harry reading a book on magecraft, the history of the Grail War to be exact.

Mid-way through the lesson, Hermione raised her hand. Normally in Binns' lessons everyone did as previously stated and Harry was unsure if he'd ever had a student raise their hand and interrupt him before. He looked up from his notes, and how can a ghost have notes anyway, and looked closely at Hermione for a moment.

"Yes Miss Perkins? Did you have a question?" Stupid ghost couldn't even remember their names properly, Harry wondered if he would notice if no one turned up for his class and made a note to see what the register for this class looked like.

"I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets sir." The room became far more alert at that and all of the students perked up and paid attention, probably the most attention anyone's ever paid in one of Binns' lessons.

"I teach _History_ of Magic dear girl. I deal with facts, not Myths and Legends. The Chamber of Secrets is likely as real as muggles walking on the moon." With that, the ghost returned to the lecture on International Warlock Convention of 1289.

That didn't stay that way for long as Hermione's hand was once again waving in the air. Harry's lips quirked upwards in amusement as the ghostly professor gave an exasperated sigh before addressing the girl.

"Something else on your mind Miss. Newman?" He asked her, was he really unaware of her name or was he deliberately getting it wrong?

"Sorry sir but don't most legends have a basis in fact?" She didn't sound sorry in the slightest and Harry doubted she really was. He didn't know why Hermione was even asking these questions, he knew she possessed a copy of Hogwarts: A History, not that he'd seen her with it so far this year.

"I suppose that one could argue that, exaggerations and embellishments adding themselves to something true as time progressed. There is however the nature of this particular story, it is rather ridiculous and completely unfounded..."

Binns looked around the room, everyone was paying rapt attention and he seemed unsure how to deal with it. The ghost looked back at Hermione and huffed.

"Oh very well, very well. Let me see... Chamber of Secrets." He cleared his throat, though why he had to do that was unknown. "You all know how Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago, the exact date is unknown, by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four houses you are sorted into are named after them, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together away from the muggles who, at the time, hunted magicals down and killed them." He stopped for a moment to take in all of the students who were actually paying attention for a change before continuing.

"For a number of years, the four founders worked in harmony with each other, seeking out children capable of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. Unfortunately, disagreements sprang up between them. Slytherin became more isolated from the other three, he wanted to be more _selective_ about who they taught, retaining those from magical families and rejecting those born of muggles. He thought muggle-borns were untrustworthy and shouldn't be brought to their sole place of learning. Eventually, there was a great argument between Slytherin and Gryffindor after which Slytherin left the castle." Binns took another look around the classroom and seeing all of the students actually listening for a change must have spurred him on.

"That is as far as reliable historical accounts can take us but these facts have been added to with the fanciful tale of the Chamber of Secrets. Apparently Slytherin built a hidden chamber while keeping the other founders unaware of its existence. According to the legend, Slytherin sealed the chamber so that only his true heir would be able to open it, unleash the horror within, and purge the school of all those who were unworthy to study magic." There was silence at this and Binns looked rather annoyed at the direction his lesson had gone in.

"The whole thing is utter nonsense of course. Naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber many times, by the most learned witches and wizards. It does not exist, a tale told to frighten the gullible."

Hermione's hand was in the air and she asked a question of the professor. "Sir, what exactly is meant by the 'horror within'?"

"It is believed to be some sort of monster, which the heir of Slytherin alone can control." Binns replied, the disdain in his voice making his beliefs clear about the subject. "I tell you that the entire thing is fiction, it does not exist. There is no chamber and no monster!"

"But sir," Finnegan called out "If only Slytherin's true heir can open it then no one else _would_ be able to open it now, would they?" A curious point, even if others couldn't open the chamber there were surely those who should be able to find it.

"Nonsense!" Binns was becoming more and more incensed by all of this. "If a long line of Hogwarts headmasters and headmistresses haven't found the thing then-"

Parvati interrupted the ghost this time. "But professor, you'd probably have to use dark magic to open it!"

"Just because a wizard doesn't use dark magic doesn't mean he can't. I repeat, if the likes of headmaster Dumbledore -" It seemed that Binns couldn't get a break this lesson as he was once again interrupted, this time by Dean Thomas.

"But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Dumbledore couldn't -" interesting idea but there was one thing that Slytherin was none for that is rather rare, the ability to speak parseltongue, and Harry just so happened to possess it. He wondered what the students would think if they found out that not only he but Stheno and Euryale could all speak parseltongue. He made a note to himself not to reveal said ability except in dire circumstances.

"That is enough!" Binns seemed to have reached the end of his tether and Harry thought that he could see a slight red tingle to the irritated spirit. "It is a myth! It does not exist! There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard! I regret telling you such an outlandish tale if this is what happens! We will return, if it pleases you, to history, to solid, believable, verifiable fact!" It didn't take long for the most of the class to fall back into slumber.

xxxxx

Harry was currently sequestered away in the tower he had taken over away from the general school populace. He had decided to try and get to know his two Servants better now that he knew their names and he had yet to receive a single dream from the dream sequence. Lancer and Berserker, who he'd taken to calling Liz and Fran, stood with him and Harry decided that it would be best if they were more comfortable for this conversation.

Harry's conjurations were more functional than anything else, they looked like what they were supposed to and they worked like they were supposed to but they were all plain and lacked adornment. The three stuffed armchairs that he conjured were all plain purple, a colour that Harry really liked, and perhaps a little too stuffed but they were chars and chairs are for sitting on.

"Look, I know the legends about the two of you, or more accurately the literature with you Fran, and I have told you before that I will judge you solely on what happened from the moment we met and not before then. I understand that Fran was something of an obsessive stalker and that you, Liz, might have killed a few people but I am don't care right now. Just because I learned that your pasts aren't all sunshine and rainbows doesn't mean anything to me right now. I still trust you and as long as you do nothing to break my trust then I am happy to have you at my side as long as you are there." Harry looked between them both before Liz spoke up.

"We understand that and we are grateful but we spoke last night and believe that, regardless of what you have said, you should hear about our pasts and what we've done. You have told us about your past, including what those Dursleys did, and have been completely upfront and honest with us about everything. The throne of heroes is a place where we can interact with other heroic spirits and I once spoke to someone who had been summoned for a grail war. The masters apparently see them as tools and nothing more. Weapons to be directed and used before being discarded when they're spent. You have treated us, or me at least, better than I was in life. I may have been a countess that could have whatever she desired but it was a rather lonely life." She took a breath before continuing, her eyes looking right where Harry's would be.

"I had money and I could purchase whatever I pleased, whether that be slaves, common folk, food or accessories. I had it all but it didn't matter, it was nothing more than a distraction to pass the time with. You taught us about civil rights and many other things this summer and I never realised how morally apprehensible my actions had been, my last words before my execution were 'Why? Why? I didn't do anything bad'. Given the fact that I had killed over six hundred women and bathed in their blood wasn't something I was overly concerned with, I saw nothing wrong with it because I was never told no. None of my family was ever told no, some of my closest relatives were paedophiles and rapists so I wasn't anything of note." She looked down at her lap and fiddled her hands together.

"I was horrible, a monster but not the sort of monster you claim to be. I was a monster because of my actions, actions I held no remorse for until you started teaching us modern values and I am ashamed of what I once was. You, you have changed me. I still feel joy in the thought of torture and death but I no longer relish the thought of doing so for no reason other than I can but I would gladly torture any that you direct me too as I trust your judgement." Harry nodded to her, he could accept that. He didn't like the thought of torture himself but if that was used as retribution for a criminal before their execution then he could quite easily look the other way.

"I was obsessive." Harry looks over the Fran who was now speaking. "I was put together from numerous corpses and augmented with mechanical appendages when appropriate 'materials' couldn't be found. My first memory is of when I woke up and saw my master, my creator before me. When I learned of what he'd done, that he had given me life, I decided to dedicate myself to him. I would be everything he could want and anything that he desired, this was a rather unhealthy mindset and my creator took me to pieces before he fled. I managed to put myself back together and followed him, tracking him by instinct alone, before I found him in his home village. As I journeyed I realised that, no matter how I acted or what I wanted, I would always be a monster. That understanding drove me to madness and I slaughtered my maker's family, pursuing him across countries when he fled. My make eventually underwent a mental breakdown and took his own life. He was my everything and when he died I had nothing left, no drive, no motivation, meaning, nothing. I drowned myself in the icy cold waters of the Arctic, I imagine that my body is still there somewhere, probably at the bottom of the ocean as it would have no doubt sank like a stone. You are my new chance, my new reason for being. Whatever you ask of me then I will obey master for you are all that I now know."

Harry sighed before getting up from his chair and walking over to the two girls. The talk had left them all rather despondent and Harry knelt down before them both before surprising them by drawing them into a hug. Harry looked at each of them for a moment before speaking.

"Stop that, stop thinking that you're meaningless. There is no grail supporting your existence and you both have another chance at life. Granted, your appearances will mean that you can't exactly go out in the muggle world without a cover story or illusion but this is a chance to do what you want. Learn to live with yourselves and make new decisions without constantly thinking about the past. Come on, smile for me, please."

Pulling back, he saw the small smiles the two now bore, Liz's turned into somewhat of a mischievous grin though and the glint in her eye told Harry that she had something in mind that he probably wouldn't like.

"Well master," she whispered in a rather seductive tone. "you say that we can choose what we want, right? Well I think I'm quite happy staying here with you my cute little master." Harry became somewhat uncomfortable here as he began to notice how Liz's body felt against his own and went to pull back from her. The problem was that she had wrapped an arm around him and didn't seem to want to let go.

"I think I'm quite happy with you too master." Phew, it seemed that meaning behind Liz's words had gone right over Fran's head. He hoped at least, she did have her own arm around him and seemed rather content with his hug. Harry wondered what Zelretch would think of all this when he heard a noise behind himself.

Turning around he saw Len with a camera in her hands and a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. It looked like Zelretch would be getting another photo to add to his albums of blackmail material.

xxxxx

A few days later, Harry was sitting comfortably by the lake outside. His back was to a tree and his astralised Servants were right by his sides while he stroked a purring Len in his lap. He opened his eyes as he heard footsteps rushing towards him through the grass.

Hi Harry." An excited Hermione called, her hair and clothes in disarray, obviously from running. "I think I know who the heir of Slytherin is and how we can prove it!" The hybrid closed his eyes, what the hell was with this bushy-haired girl?


	24. Heart of the School

AN: Weirdness happens at the end of this chapter, I was watching Birdy the Mighty: Decode and I was curious how Harry would deal with something like that and I found a chance to put him in that situation. There are all sorts of things influencing what I write, Ghost Hunt is going to influence how I punish Malfoy, and it shows in how and what I write. As always I have a forum that can be found either on my profile or here:

forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

Enjoy the chapter and respond as you wish.

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 24 – Heart of the School

"So you're finally talking to me again, are you?" Harry's tone was lightly laced with venom as he looked at the girl who hadn't spoken a word to him since the first week of school, she looked as hyperactive as a four year old on a sugar high.

Hermione stopped for a minute then bit her lip, it looked like she hadn't been expecting this kind of reaction. "Well, if you apologise then I'll forgive you."

Harry stopped for a minute there and had to actually consciously reinforce his occlumency, something he'd never had to do before, as he cast his eyes over the girl he had considered his closest friend in this world. She had shadows under her eyes and it was obvious that she was stressing out about things, it had been her friendship with Harry that allowed her to meet people in other houses and, while not perfect, Hufflepuff house looked after their own. Even if some of them thought he did it, it would take far more for them to turn on him.

"That was arrogant, egotistical and rather selfish of you." Harry saw her open her mouth to reply but cut her off immediately. "Just tell me who you think this heir is."

"Draco Malfoy."

Harry blinked, he tilted his head to one side and looked absolutely incredulously at Hermione. She took a step back when Harry could no longer hold his laughter in, wasn't she supposed to be smart? He'd expect an answer like that from the weasel, not her. Shaking his head Harry thought about it for a minute.

It was ridiculous, absolutely stupid and almost inconceivable if you discounted petty bias. Harry looked up at Hermione and saw her expression set in a resolute mask. 'Oh great,' he thought 'now that I've laughed at it she's not going to be able to leave it alone. She's got too high an opinion of herself.'

"Why?" Harry asked her, he wanted to know her reasons for suspecting Ferret.

"Why?" She asked and Harry had to roll his eyes, not that she could see that, and expanded on his question.

"Why do you think it's Ferret? Surely you must have some reasons." This would be interesting.

"We were just leaving the Great Hall when Filch found Mrs. Norris and Malfoy had been late to the meal, he was the last one in before the meal was served. I remember wondering why he didn't have his two bookends with him. Slytherin is the house that hates muggles and muggle-borns and Malfoy has shown his distaste for them on more than one occasion." Rather circumstantial evidence Harry thought, even if it was more than what had people blaming him.

"When the message became known he was the one who cried out 'You'll be next mudbloods!' which indicates, if not it being him, that he at least supports the eradication of muggle-borns. His attitude recently also supports his culpability, he has been acting even more proud and self-entitled than previously." Harry wondered if she'd taken leave of her senses or something, he was expecting something to hit her over the head with a hammer with 'Common Sense' etched into the side or something.

"Really? That's what you're basing your accusation off of?" Harry asked her.

"You're not going to defend him are you Harry? I thought that you, of all people, would want him punished for his actions!" She was highly-strung, perhaps the lack of friends had been getting to her worse than he'd thought. "You're the one that calls him that diminutive name, Ferret, aren't you? You're the one that always retaliates when he tries to curse you!"

"I'm not defending him, I simply think the idea that Ferret is the heir of Slytherin is laughable. Slytherin was a British wizard and Malfoy is a French one. The Malfoys only came to Britain during the war with Grindlewald, what was the second world war, when the fighting spread to France. The name Malfoy is literally 'Bad Faith' and was what his family was branded for their actions against another French noble house, it was only when the Belmonts were all killed leaving the then head of the Malfoy family their large fortune that they had the money to become 'lord of money' that Lucius Malfoy is today. Their status is bought unlike those such as the Longbottoms who became Lords due to having five consecutive generations of magicals as well as the financial requirements for the position." Harry had looked up some of his year mates histories and been quite intrigued by a few of them.

"I find it very unlikely that the Malfoys could have any connection to Slytherin considering they've only been in Britain for five decades. Besides that, there is the fact that the Slytherins became extinct in the male line as well as losing the title. The Slytherin family became destitute about two hundred years ago and were stripped of that title, the family became the Gaunts so an 'heir' of Slytherin can not exist even though there is still a seat on the Wizengamot bearing that name. As for the Gaunts, well, they became extinct in the male line in 1944 with the death of Morfin Gaunt and he was predeceased by his sister, she never registered a child. The Gaunts had a rather unhealthy habit of having two children, one male and one female who would then... reproduce with each other, a rather unpleasant side note." Harry had asked Zelretch to get him a copy of the files from the hall of records in the ministry which he'd then had to sort through, it's what he'd been doing over the past week.

"There must still be a living relative even if the Gaunts are dead for the chamber to be opened." Hermione replied, stamping her foot. She was going to be stubborn about it, at least Harry might get a little entertainment out of watching her fumble about in the dark. "Seeing as there is an 'heir of Slytherin' then he must have a descendant which means the records are incomplete. Maybe someone decided to go to France and had an illegitimate child or something." It looked like she really wasn't going to let this one go so Harry decided to follow another avenue of questioning.

"Disregarding all of that, which would be rather foolish, how do you intend to go about proving your accusation?" Harry asked of her and Hermione's increasingly nervous fidgeting makes Harry wonder how legal her idea is.

"Polyjuice potion." She says. Polyjuice is a potion that allows you to take on the appearance of someone else for one hour. It's perfectly legal, if you get the person's permission. It also only worked on full humans, it wouldn't even work on werewolves or metamorphmagi.

Harry raises an eyebrow. "Polyjuice potion?" He asks. "And just how will polyjuice potion help you ascertain whether or not the ferret is actually guilty?" Veritaserum yes, polyjuice, not really.

"We can become two of the Slytherins and then question him about it. I'm sure that he will talk more freely with his house mates than he would us and then we'd have proof." Her eyes shine brightly, Harry is sure it's more about the idea of brewing a NEWT level potion than it is about Ferret.

"Really? That is your master plan?" Harry asked, it was so ridiculous, so unlikely to work and just so many things could go wrong with it that he simply had to see what she would do. Harry was beginning to wonder how much of an effect Zelretch had had on him if he found this sort of thing funny.

"Yes, that's my plan!" An indignant Hermione replied. Harry looked her up and down for a moment as he began to envisage what Zelretch would do in this situation, probably something either vastly amusing or completely ridiculous. The possibility of both was also rather high.

"You do know that the book this potion is from is not in the generally available part of the library. Right?" He knew, he'd duplicated a fair number of them even if he wasn't supposed to, copyright charms faded over time and it seemed Madam Prince hadn't renewed them.

"It's in 'Moste Potente Potions' in the restricted section, we'll need a teacher's permission to get it." It was also a book that Harry owned, not that Harry was going to mention that as he was curious how far she could get before failing.

"How do you suppose you're going to get that? Professor Snape is our Potions professor and he wouldn't give you permission and Potions is his jurisdiction, no other professor has a valid reason to let you have access to such a book. They would have to completely brainless to do so." Harry lay back against the tree and settled in to relax for now, Liz and Fran's spectral forms leaning in to him.

"I think I might know who would give me permission." Hermione said before haring off back to the castle leaving a bemused Harry behind.

xxxxx

Harry looked from the girl standing in front of him with a smirk on her face to the permission slip in her outstretched hand and back again. "I stand by my previous statement 'They would have to be completely brainless to do so', this simply proves my point."

"I told him that it would help me understand what he was written in 'Gadding with Ghouls' about slow-acting venoms and he signed it straight away for me. He said that I was the best student in the year too." There was a faint dusting of pink on Hermione's cheeks, something that absolutely disgusted Harry.

"He didn't even look at what book you wanted." Harry said, he'd seen it all through Liz's eyes via Shared Perception. "If nothing else it was rather irresponsible of him."

"Even so- Hey! How did you know whether he looked at it or not? You weren't in the room and the door was shut." At least Hermione paid more attention than blondie did. Her eyes were narrowed and Harry couldn't resist smirking at her.

"That is a secret." He said and he could tell that particular answer really irritated the brunette, she didn't like not getting her questions answered. Harry escaped her ire by hastening his steps towards the library, the bushy haired girl chasing after him.

xxxxx

"Moste Potente Potions?" Madam Pince asked, you could hear the disbelief in her voice. Harry didn't blame her, he had a copy of the book and knew what potions could be found within it and Polyjuice was perhaps the most 'friendly' and nicest of them.

The librarian scrutinised the signature carefully, probably thinking it was a forgery, but she eventually acknowledged it as genuine as she stalked off between the shelves towards the restricted section. She returned within a few minutes with a large and mouldy-looking book in her hands, it didn't look like the preservation charms on that one had lasted, which she signed out for Hermione.

Putting the book in her bag, Hermione hurried off and completely failed at looking inconspicuous. Harry followed, completely nonchalant, and drew far less attention as he wondered where she was leading him.

It turned out to be Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Harry shot a quick glance at the sink, he'd found the entrance to the chamber of secrets the other night but there was a very weak ward over the entrance and any interference would break it. Harry mentally applauded whoever had done it as simply opening the entrance or prodding the array would cause it collapse and leave evidence that the chamber entryway had been discovered.

It looked like Myrtle wasn't here for whatever reason, not that Harry would miss her, and the toilets were never used because of said ghost. If it wasn't for the entrance to the chamber of secrets being mere feet away, an irony not lost on Harry, then it would be an almost perfect place to brew a potion that you didn't want found.

Of course there were other places they could brew the potion, Harry had a room specifically for that in the tower he'd commandeered, they could use he harbour that the first years' boats end up in, they could use an empty classroom or a number of other places but, just like with the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, who'd look for it in a girls' bathroom?

Harry looked at Hermione, she'd turned rather green, as she looked through the book. Harry knew what was in there and some of the potions had horrific effects and some had even more horrific side-effects. There were images of a wizard hat had turned inside out, a witch with extra arms sprouting on top of her head, someone who had eyes and mouths on the palms of his hands, a little girl that had become some kind of eldritch abomination, a baby that had muscles usually seen on intense body builders all out of proportion and many more.

"I've found it!" Hermione said. The page she was looking at had images of witches and wizards mid-transformation and Harry thought the looks of intense pain rather appropriate, they were making immense physical changes on their bodies after all and at an accelerated rate too.

"I've never seen a potion so complex before!" No, really? It is a NEWT level potion after all. She looked at the ingredients list. "Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed and knotgrass" She murmured as she traced a finger down the list. "They can be found in the basic potion kit or the student stores so they're easy to obtain. Powdered horn of a bicorn though, shredded skin of a boomslang too, they'll be tricky to get a hold of." Harry didn't mention that he had all of those ingredients in his tower, he'd help her with some of the more unusual ingredients if she didn't think of something herself. It wasn't exactly difficult to owl order an apothecary but it seemed the Wizarding World's lack of logic was taking her over. Either that or she had picked up the idiot ball.

"We'll need a bit of who we transform into as well." Harry just nodded before he spoke aloud.

"You do realise I can't drink this, right?" Hermione looked up at him in surprise, her bottom lip jutting out into a pout and crocodile tears appearing in her eyes. "I mean that because I have some metamorph traits, no matter how minor, and as such this potion isn't safe for my consumption." There was also the issue of him not being fully human that would complicate it too.

"I suppose that I'll have to get Neville involved then." She said. "It'd be better to do this with more than one person anyway." She didn't even seem to consider the fact that Neville might not want to participate in this, she acted like it was a forgone conclusion.

"How are you going to get a hold of the more unusual ingredients? As I'm sure you're aware, they aren't available to second year students and Snape is rather unlikely to give them to you." Especially as she wouldn't want to tell him what she needed them for.

"I'll guess we'll just have to steal them from professor Snape's stores then. This is important and as such some rules will need to be bent or even broken!" Harry raised an eyebrow, Hermione breaking rules was unthinkable. He would make a joke about seeing if she was possessed or even the real Hermione if her eyes didn't have that determined glint in them, that meant she would be stubborn about this.

Harry sighed. "Don't go raiding Snape's stores, I'll get a hold of the boomslang skin and the bicorn horn." If she really did intend from Snape's private stores then she probably didn't realise what sort of violation that was to a potions master, it was like breaking into a magus' workshop. There was also the fact that those ingredients were rather uncommon and more expensive than what school students would regularly use. It wouldn't be right to steal them in any case.

Hermione looked through the potion recipe and bit her lip. "It's going to take a while to make the potion, about a month all told if we can get the ingredients. It's a while but it's the best that we can do unless Malfoy gets killed in tomorrow's Quidditch match." She must really be convinced it is Ferret if the venom in her voice is anything to go by but Harry really didn't think it was.

xxxxx

CRASH! CLANG!

Harry dodged backwards as an axe almost separated his arm from his body. He looked at the axe and the armour that had fallen from one of the upper floors and sighed.

"This is getting bloody ridiculous." It really was! Ever since he had arrived at Hogwarts things had happened that would result in rather serious injury if he had been hit, more so if he was an ordinary human. The weapons that the armour in Hogwarts held was enchanted to make magical healing difficult, this was because of the armour's purpose.

Statues and suits of armour throughout the school had dormant animation charms on them that would activate when the school and its students were threatened, it was one more line of defence on top of the school's impressive wards and the faculty themselves. It would be stupid if the attackers could simply magic an injury away so all of the weapons held by the armour had been enchanted to impede magical healing, it would take specialists to undo any damage they caused and even they would take time on it.

If Harry hadn't moved away from the falling armour then the axe would have impacted his right should, leaving his arm to dangle useless at his side until the damage could be reversed. Granted, he would heal quicker on his own than a regular wizard with treatment but it would still take a few days for his accelerated healing to reverse the magic preventing the wound from closing and then close up the injury itself.

"House elf again too." Harry said as he checked for prana residue. Whatever this house elf was up to was starting to really peeve him off, this had been the seventeenth incident that could have ended up with him in a rather severe state of injury and he was getting more and more annoyed by it. The prana signature of the elf was the same one that he'd felt at King's cross when the platform had been sealed, it seemed that someone didn't want him interfering in what was going on at Hogwarts this year.

"Right, that's it. I am going to the kitchens to see if they can give me some answers." Harry did an about turn and headed downwards, to the basement where the kitchens were located. As usual, Liz and Fran fell into step behind him and Len had herself curled around his neck.

Tickling the pear for access, Harry walked into the kitchens and saw the gathering of elves there. A quick scan showed that, while it was an elf that was doing these things to him, it wasn't one of the elves currently in the kitchens. The elves looked up at Harry and greeted him warmly, perhaps even more so than they would anyone else as Harry had, after all, taught them new recipes amongst other things and repaired some of the things that they couldn't.

"Hey guys," He said and half of the room gave a little cough. "and girls," It was amazing the change in the elves since Harry had turned up, they had learned how to joke and one elf had even gained an edge of sarcasm. "I was wondering if any of you have seen a new elf around the castle recently. There have been a few incidents aimed at me that would imply someone doesn't want me in the castle. If you notice anything then can you please let me know, okay?"

The faces on the elves would have surprised many people, house elves generally didn't like pissed off and it was an interesting expression on their faces. The lot of them agreed and Harry was sure that he'd now have a few elves always watching his back, they were always eager to please.

A disillusioned Dumbledore, who had come for a mug of hot chocolate, had been rather surprised at how the elves reacted. It wasn't normal for them to express their displeasure like that and he wondered if this is what that woman had meant last year when she said that Harry would be protected, no one would suspect Hogwarts own house elves after all.

xxxxx

It was Saturday, the day that Gryffindor and Slytherin would compete against each other in Quidditch and the entire school was out on the pitch, the entire school except Harry. The boy in question was in the Great Hall and kneeling on the emblem of the school that was etched into the floor, he'd had Liz wait in the entrance hall to keep an eye out in case anyone came snooping by.

Harry remembered Elestia saying that the central ward stone was below ground and he had narrowed it down to being below the Great Hall but no further. There had been the possibility of it being in a room off of the basement or the dungeons but Harry had a feeling it was below the emblem on which he now knelt.

A quick structural grasp soon proved that the floor below him was two feet thick before it became empty space, an expanded space if he read the magic saturating it correctly. Now all he had to do was figure out how to open it up.

Taking a close look at the emblem, the house mascots in particular, he noticed a small gem in each quarter. A sapphire in the Ravenclaw segment, a ruby in Gryffindor's, an emerald in Slytherin's and amber in Hufflepuff's. A structural analysis of each of them showed that they each had some kind of magic in them but it wasn't something he understood right away.

"Harry? What are you doing here?" Harry jerked up and saw that Helena had drifted through a wall into the Great Hall and was looking curiously as he knelt on the emblem in front of the staff table.

"I was asked to try and speak with the spirit of Hogwarts and the easiest place to start would be the central ward stone, I believe that said ward stone is located beneath this emblem. I am trying to work out how to open it though, I don't understand it as is." Harry looked at her and then face-palmed as she quirked an eyebrow at him.

"By that reaction I guess that you just remembered who's daughter I am. It's actually rather simple to open, all you have to do is channel magic into each of the gems and it'll open. Most adults today couldn't do it as they grow up using nothing but wands and don't learn to channel magic via other mediums but I see no reason you can't open it." Harry was on the verge of just walking up to a wall and banging his head off it, if it was really that simple then the magic he'd felt in the gems was probably there to enact whatever happened when the jewels were filled.

"Thanks, I'll get right on it." Helena took a seat nearby at the Ravenclaw table and watched as Harry put a hand over the amber inset in the floor. A warm glow was soon seen peeking from between his fingers as he moved onto the sapphire which gave off a cold blue, almost white, glow. The red ruby and the green emerald were soon glowing too and Harry stepped back as he waited for whatever happened to happen.

The emblem soon separated into four sections, the Gryffindor section remaining at the top as the other three fell down to hover lower down. It was a rather interesting sight as Harry lowered himself from the Gryffindor segment to the Ravenclaw one which was about three metres lower down, the next one was the Hufflepuff segment which was another three metres down and the Slytherin segment, which was once again another three metres down and three metres above the floor.

As soon as Harry's feet hit the flagstone floor at the bottom, the segments rose and reformed the emblem shutting off all light and sound from the Hall above. After casting a small lumos spell, Harry took a look around himself. Helena and Fran were with him and that reminded him that Liz was still above, keeping watch.

_'Hey Liz, Is the Great Hall back to normal or is there some evidence that we were there?'_ Harry called out mentally.

_'It's as if you were never here Master. Have you found something interesting? Is it the ward stone?'_ She asked.

_'We are at the bottom of some kind of shaft, the entire thing down here is some sort of expanded space and the air itself is heavily saturated with magic, active magic. I think there is something down here and we've gained its attention. I'll be careful, I have Fran and Helena with me but I'd appreciate it if you kept an eye out on what's going on up there for me'_ Harry was not joking when he said that he could feel active magic down here, it tingled on his skin and tickled his throat as he breathed the air down here.

"Fran, it's probably best if you become physical now. Helena, please keep an eye out unless you can tell me what's down here. Let's all be careful." Helena was somewhat taken aback when Fran materialised right next to her and Harry could see the curiosity in her eyes.

"I haven't been down here myself, I never saw a reason for it so I'm afraid I can't tell you anything of worth." She said as she walked a little in front of them all to act like a scout. Fran fell back somewhat to cover Harry from behind as the boy in question projected a weapon into each of his hands, lance for his left hand and an english broadsword for his right. His stance was balanced with the lance pointed out in front and slightly to the left while he held the sword up and slightly behind himself, ready for anything that might surprise him.

Following one of Harry's floating orbs down a corridor, they found several passageways off to each side, at these points they checked for any traps and which direction the power was emanating from, but Harry was wondering just how large this expanded space was.

"Okay, this is ridiculous. I can still feel the space expansion charm so we must still be in there but how big can these things go?" Harry asked as the found another corridor to walk down in this labyrinthine place, this corridor alone was about as long as the Great Hall was and it was only part of the expanded space.

"There are numerous factors that affect space expansion charms including, but not limited to, the quantity and quality of the ambient magic, the rate at which the space is expanded, how the charm is anchored, the materials the exterior of the space is made from and the experience of the one casting the spell to name but a few." Harry stopped in his tracks and just looked at the ghost that had adopted an innocent look.

"It was a rhetorical question." Harry said blandly, the twitch of her lip and the mischievous glint in her eye not going unnoticed. Harry snorted at that before continuing down the corridor they were in, there had to be an end to it somewhere after all.

xxxxx

Outside, at the Quidditch pitch, one house elf was trying to find Harry Potter. He had to get Harry Potter out of school for his own safety, Mr. Potter was too precious to be lost to the horror his master had unleashed within the castle. The elf looked at the Quidditch players and didn't see him amongst them so he began to search through the crowds for his target. It should have been easy, even Dobby knew that the great Harry Potter had odd coloured hair. There was no sign of purple in the crowd though except for the headmaster's robes and that was soon dismissed as currently irrelevant.

Dobby knew that the great Harry Potter was responsible for the end of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and was why his bad master couldn't be as harsh as he used to be, house elves may not have many rights but before the Dark Lord's fall they could have been killed and no one would bat an eyelash, whereas now it was similar to laws about 'wilfully damaged property' that came with a relatively small fine.

Dobby remembered when Bad Master's son came home from Hogwarts and ranted and raved about the 'freaky damn disrespectful half-blood bastard' as he called Harry Potter. It was through all of the ranting that Dobby found out about the great Harry Potter's power, only an amazing wizard could do wandless magic after all, and about other things, he was in Hufflepuff house but wasn't a 'duffer', he was top of the class in all lessons, he wore a blindfold and he had purple in his hair.

Dobby thought that stopping Harry Potter from getting hurt was sure to be easy, he would simply stop people's letters going to him and then he wouldn't think he had friends and he wouldn't go. The problem there was that the letters didn't go to Harry Potter but the goblins and he couldn't intercept them.

His next idea had been to seal the gateway at King's Cross against him but that hadn't phased him in the slightest and Dobby was sure that Harry Potter had seen him. He'd kept an eye on the boy and his friends until they had walked into an alley. There had been a weird fluctuation of magic and he'd gone to take a closer look only to see they'd all gone.

Since the great Harry Potter had started his second year of Hogwarts, Dobby had been trying to get him injured enough to scare him away or just get him out of the castle but none of it had been successful. He was too fast for the incidents that he could see and it was like he had invisible people watching his back as he reacted to things he couldn't have noticed.

It was getting more difficult to cause things though and he didn't know how long until he was caught. Dobby had noticed that, since the previous evening, Hogwarts house elves had begun to shadow Harry Potter and Dobby dare not do anything while they were there, if they caught him then he could no longer try and protect Harry Potter from what his bad master had done.

xxxxx

The ghost of Helena Ravenclaw carefully examined the boy that called himself Harry Potter. She didn't really know what to think of him, he was the most unique and different person she had ever met. Speaking to him before the students had been sorted had been a whim, one she was glad she had followed.

That he could actually touch her, make physical contact, was a great surprise. A ghost no longer had all the sensations they did in life, no sense of taste or touch and no concept of hot and cold. Her hand in his and the lips that brushed the back of said hand had been the first physical sensation she had experienced in over a thousand years.

The next time she had met him they had jested with one another, emulating the old-fashioned courtesies in an over-dramatic way. It was so unusual for her that she couldn't help but play along, a breath of fresh air after so long.

She had kept an eye on him and they had talked with each other occasionally, she hadn't interacted with a student this much since Tom Riddle fifty years previously. Tom Riddle, that was a name that brought up rather unpleasant memories.

She had become rather flattered by the handsome Slytherin while he was a student, he had been the perfect example. The professors loved him for his work ethic, intelligence and power in spell-casting and his charisma drew students from all houses. He was thought to have been a muggle-born originally and he had been sorted into Slytherin, a house that had gained a rather unsavoury reputation for racism and bigotry.

She should have known not to trust someone like that, men will act all charming when they want something after all. She felt almost violated, almost raped with how easily he had gotten to her and how she had old him everything he asked. He could have asked anything of her and if it was in her power to accomplish it then it would have been done, she had been an absolute fool.

It really wasn't a surprise when that _thing _had grown to be the monster that had terrorised Britain for a decade until the boy who now walked at her side had come into the picture. She really should have seen it, the malice lying under the surface, the greed but he seemed so earnest up until around his sixth year. Come to think of it, he had also started wearing some ugly ring around that point. Perhaps it was significant in some way, she'd be sure to tell Harry about it later.

Harry, now there was someone completely different to Tom Riddle. To start with, she had made first contact with him rather than the other way around. Their attitudes were also completely different, Riddle surrounded himself with followers, sycophants, meat shields and cannon fodder whereas Harry kept his distance from everyone and only allowed a few people in. She was aware that she was probably the closest to him amongst the regular Hogwarts population. She did not think that she was the closest but she was much more so than any of the staff, students or other ghosts and that included that bushy-haired brunette from Gryffindor. The thought made her smile though she didn't know why.

Harry didn't take advantage of her, didn't ask for knowledge of times past, didn't hound her with questions about the founders as many were wont to do when they found out who she was. In fact he had confided in her, small things true but still, he had told her about himself, things that he had told no one else. When she had outed herself as the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw she had expected him to ask so many questions on so many subjects but he had instead chose to tell her about himself, his blood adoption and who he considered family.

Telling him about her mother's diadem had been something that she had been initially unsure about, but when he had given her a secret of his in return for one of hers then she had done it. If he was willing to look past her mother's shadow to see her then she would hope that he would be the one to correct the mistake she made fifty years ago. She remembered the sunset they'd looked out upon as they talked well into the evening, it was one of the most pleasant and relaxing things she'd done in the last few centuries.

She looked at him now as he walked cautiously down the hallway, always alert in case of traps or the like. She did admit, if only to herself, that Harry was an exemplary young man and someone that she was quite willing to get to know and associate with. Perhaps it was time that she made more of an effort to interact with him, there conversations so far had all been away from prying eyes. She wondered how people would react to seeing Ravenclaw's house ghost sit at the Hufflepuff table and speak with one of theirs during meal times. It would peeve a number of the Ravenclaw students off at least, a number of them had made numerous attempts to talk to her. She wouldn't answer them, they only wanted knowledge and other things to satiate their own desires.

Her gaze flickered to the one other one that also walked with them, the one that seemed to be half composed of metal. The fact that someone had simply stepped out of thin air next to Harry had surprised her, the fact that the one who appeared actually had a physical body unlike a ghost just made it more interesting. Who was she? What kind of connection did she have with Harry? What was up with that huge round hammer thing?

Helena kept her questions to herself as they walked despite the curiosity burning within her, it really wasn't the time for twenty questions after all. Helena walked resolutely on, she was determined that nothing would escape her notice and cause harm to Harry, she was also rather curious about this place herself.

xxxxx

Albus Dumbledore sat in the stands watching the game of Quidditch progress but his mind was not there, it was on Harry Potter. The boy was simply just so unpredictable, he was impossible to work out. James had been a prankster, if there was a laugh to get out of something then he'd manage it, he was the centre of attention and he enjoyed it. Dumbledore had hoped that the Dursleys could have squashed that flair for the dramatics out of him, goodness knows how bad he would have been if James had actually raised him.

Lily had been the intelligent one, that's not to say she was nerdy because she wasn't. Lily had been the one everyone in the school from first year through seventh had had a crush on (whether they'd admit it or not). She had a temper though, by heck she had a temper. If Lily Evans was pissed off with someone then the whole school would be on the lookout for her, there was that one time when four seventh year Slytherin boys had seen her marching along the corridor and had literally fled from the raging fourth year.

Harry Potter acted like neither one of them, he had none of James' boastful nature, he was actually rather reclusive and anti-social. He had none of Lily's extremely easy to ignite temper either. That isn't to say that Harry never got angry just that it was more difficult to make him so but you definitely knew when he was angry. Whereas James would prank the target of his ire into tears and Lily would rage at everything within reach, Harry would do something quick and decisive for revenge. An example would be the scarring of Ronald Weasley or the embarrassing situations that Draco Malfoy sometimes found himself in, how Harry managed it Dumbledore didn't know.

The words of that purple-haired woman from last year also bounced around in his head, what did she mean when she said that Harry would be protected? He'd told her that Hogwarts rules did not allow for the hiring of mercenaries or anything like that but she had only smiled when he mentioned familiars. Perhaps that was it, Harry had brought a familiar with him to school but if that was true then what was it? Where was it?

The cat that accompanied him all over did register as being magical, rather strongly at that, but the way she had spoken implied that Harry would be bringing additional aid with him. You couldn't force a being to be your familiar, especially not the more magically powerful ones, but Dumbledore could think of little else that he could have done. Things would be so much simpler if he could get answers directly from the source but Harry was an Occlumens which rendered Legilimency invalid, and where did a child get such strong Occlumency from anyway?

There were other options aside from Legilimency but when he had taken a look at Harry's medical record, as his right as headmaster, he had found that the boy was also immune to Veritaserum. If the Wizengamot actually followed its own rules, which it didn't due to prolific bribery and corruption, then Harry's word would be meaningless in a court of law. It still was as the law abiding members would have to discount it and the less reputable members would spread their gold so even if it did count for something it wouldn't hold up against them.

There were magical oaths as well but they hadn't been used in court for centuries, there was always someone who managed to figure out a loop-hole and the whole system had been scrapped. The thing with magical oaths is that they had to be given to an individual, and it was up to the one whom the oath had been given to what punishment they received for each infraction. If the one who had received the oath decided to ignore it then no one would be any the wiser, there was the flip-side of that where the person who'd been given the oath was aware of every time the oath had been broken, this was the initial trigger for the punishment as this had to happen before the oath receiver was even capable of enforcing the oath.

Truth wards were also fallible as they detected lies rather than compelled truths, they also had the same limitations as oaths as they had to be linked to a receiver who would be made aware every time it was triggered. Dumbledore was running out of ideas, he couldn't dose him with truth potion to find things out as he was immune to that, he couldn't use Legilimency as had rather potent Occlumency as well. He couldn't set up a truth ward in his office and call Harry up as it wouldn't compel him to be truthful, Harry was smart enough to know when to remain silent which was vexing. There was little to no chance of him getting Harry to swear an oath to him as well so he was lost as to how to proceed.

He had contemplated firing off detection spells at the boy but Harry was more than alert enough to spot such things and the speed he had displayed was phenomenal, far more than sufficient to evade such spells which travelled at rather slow speeds unlike spells used in combat which travelled at a faster pace, another reason the death eaters were so fond of the Avada Kedava was that it was one of the fastest moving spells currently known to wizards even if it paled in comparison to a bullet.

Dumbledore turned his attention back to the game, Gryffindor were doing surprisingly well, especially so with young Mr Malfoy buying his way onto the team with those new brooms. He sighed, what was it with such competitiveness that a parent would pander to such childish whims, those brooms were very expensive and Lucius had purchased them like it was nothing.

He wondered how different this match would have been with Harry Potter as a player, he had wanted the boy in Gryffindor as that would help him become the prominent figurehead that was needed. Hufflepuff had its advantages though, no one ever thought bad about them but neither did anyone think of them as accomplished witches and wizards. The stereotype was such that Gryffindors were leaders and fighters, Ravenclaws were researchers, Hufflepuffs were the general work force and Slytherins were politicians.

Harry should be out of the school that day, it was a Saturday after all, and Dumbledore wondered what he actually did with his weekends. There was also the question of how he left the castle, Harry was too young to apparate and there had been no magical residue that indicated a portkey. It was as if he simply ceased to exist, Harry was such an enigma.

xxxxx

"I think we've found something." Harry, Helena and Fran stopped in their tracks as they looked through the large double doors in front of them. The doors were open and looking in they saw some kind of cathedral like room, it could be a throne room or anything else too.

It was empty though and so large that they could barely see the other end. There was something at the far end but whatever it was, it was too far away to make out clearly.

Harry took a step into the room and paused as it echoed throughout the room, if his soft steps caused such a noise then what would Fran's metal legs produce. He decided that it was a little late to consider that though and merely shrugged as the three of them made their way into the room and walked towards the far end.

They examined the walls as they walked, there were no windows but light was coming from somewhere. The light might not even have a source as they didn't seem to be casting any shadows, it was a little creepy truth be told but they soldiered on.

Instead of windows or paintings, the walls were covered in intricately woven tapestries. One tapestry showed what Harry thought was the four founders working together, they looked happy and all four of them were rather strong looking, the one he took to be Helga Hufflepuff had perhaps the largest muscles he'd ever seen.

There were more tapestries that they passed and Harry thought it looked like a chronicling of all the major events that had happened at Hogwarts since it been built, the things he saw seemed to showcase both joy and sorrow alongside some really odd things.

One tapestry had what appeared to be Godric Gryffindor with a baby giant squid on his head while the other three founders laughed at him. Wait, even with magic aiding it a squid shouldn't live that long. Helena and Fran pulled up short when they saw Harry stop and face-palm.

"It's not a squid is it?" Harry asked Helena. She blinked and tilted her head back.

"I've never really thought about it. The giant squid has been there since before I can remember and creatures has never been a subject that has interested me. What has you thinking it is not and, if not a squid, what is it?" She looked at Harry, creatures might not be something that interested her but she was curious about something that had been alive when she had been.

"It's a kraken. Even with magic, a squid couldn't survive more than two or three centuries and this one is at least a thousand years old. A squid grows to a maximum of fifteen metres but what's in the lake is at least three times that, a giant squid's tentacles have suckers lined with small teeth but the kraken has claws and spines along its tentacles instead. The body of a kraken is also shorter and more robust than that of a squid so that's another thing to add to the list, that's strange because kraken are descended from the Greek sea monsters called cetus which are more serpentine." Harry wondered if there was some way to communicate with the kraken, someone had to have trained it to not attack the students after all.

The three of them kept walking but grew quiet as they approached the far end of the room. They could now clearly see what it was they'd caught sight of from the other end of the chamber.

It was a throne, an elaborate chair that seemed to have been crafted from obsidian. It was rather shiny and eye-catching with various designs carved into it, all four Hogwarts mascots were there as well as several other animals. It wasn't the chair itself that they looked at though but the woman sat upon it.

She looked like she was asleep, her eyes closed and her chest slowly rising and falling with each breath. She was rather regal looking with high cheekbones and lustrous brown hair that, if she stood up, would probably reach her waist. She had finely chiselled features and full red lips. She wore some kind of black dress that followed her shapely form, she had wide hips and an exceptionally large bust. Her hourglass figure was certainly aesthetically pleasing and was something that would make a normal teenage boy drool.

Harry was no normal boy though and he had seen other incredibly attractive females in various states of undress with Stheno, Euryale, Arcueid, Altrouge and Len. He simply gave her a once over to check for any weapons she may have on her, she didn't seem to have any but he'd be wary of anything she had concealed on her.

Glancing back at his two companions, Harry stepped to the side of the throne and placed a hand on the woman's shoulder and went to shake her, he didn't get the chance.

As soon as Harry touched her shoulder, her eyes shot open and her head whipped to the side to look right at Harry. Her eyes were brown, not a muddy brown but a bright vibrant colour, and Harry didn't know how to react to this. Her eyes filled with tears and she was soon clutching onto Harry for dear life, sobbing her heart out.

Harry awkwardly patted her on the back as he looked over her shoulder to Helena and Fran. He mouthed 'Help!' at them but neither seemed inclined to do anything, Helena had a smirk on her face and Fran just stood there with a small smile on her face watching what was going on.

"Excuse me," Harry said as gently as he could. "but could you tell me what's wrong?" He would really like to not have his arms full of crying woman, it was something he didn't know how to deal with. He could handle an upset Altrouge, either fighting or a hug could get her out of her funk, and Arcueid, she could be easily cheered up with something cute and cuddly, but he had no idea how to handle this woman.

The woman didn't relinquish her grip on him and continued to cry into his shoulder but Harry did hear words amidst her tears. "So alone... so long... now. You're here... thank you." she continued to cry into his shoulder.

Not knowing what else to do, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her as best he could with her large bust getting in the way. It seemed to calm her somewhat as she relaxed into his arms and her cries became snuffles, her arms tightening around him.

Harry sat himself on the throne like chair and the unknown woman settled in his lap, still not letting him go. They remained like that for a little while longer until the woman had composed herself and had stopped crying, Harry gave her a handkerchief to dry her eyes with which she gratefully accepted.

"Thank you for that and I apologise for breaking down in front of you, I've been rather alone for a long time." She said. "May I ask who I have the pleasure of addressing and what you are doing here?"

"My name is Harry Potter and these two are Helena Ravenclaw and Fran. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure _where_ we are. Elestia, the spirit of the forest, asked me to make contact with Lady Hogwarts and I thought that the central ward stone would be a good place to start searching for her. The emblem in front of the staff table in the Great Hall opened up and it was down there that has led us here, wherever here is." Harry didn't see n issue with telling her any of that. The woman seemed to be on the edge of his senses though, his instincts were telling him that she was familiar but he couldn't for the life of him recognise her from anywhere.

The woman giggled and adopted a knowing smirk as she stood up and out of Harry's lap. She looked at the three of them before curtsying in front of them. "Then allow me to introduce myself. I am Lady Hogwarts, the consciousness of this castle, the avatar of this school. The ward stone that you were looking for is right there, you are currently sat on it."

Harry looked at the chair he was sat on. "Really? The central ward stone is carved into the likeness of a throne?" he asked dubiously.

Lady Hogwarts shrugged. "I was bored so I changed its shape, It seemed appropriate so that's how I left it. What year is it anyway? I'd like to know how long I've slept."

"It's November of nineteen ninety-two." Harry told her and she blinked in reply.

"You mean to say that I've been asleep for more than eight centuries? Damn, time really has passed. I wonder what I'll see now that I'm awake." The woman started bouncing about like an excited child on a sugar high.

"I'm guessing you went to sleep when one of the headmaster's cut you off, am I right?" She immediately calmed down and began scuffing her foot against the floor, her entire demeanour shrank in on herself and drooped downwards.

"Can I," She took a breath. "Can I ask you something?" She said, turning large brown eyes onto Harry. He knew right away that he would cave to her demands, he couldn't deny her when she looked at him with such a hope filled eyes.

"What do you want?" He asked, if he was going to get involved in something them he'd prefer to know as much about it as he could before it was too late.

"Would you bond with me as the headmasters used to? I don't want to be alone any more and you are the first to come here in eight hundred years. I don't want to think how much longer I would have had to wait if you hadn't turned up." She leaned forward with her hands clasped before her, unwittingly giving him an eyeful of her cleavage not that it affected him either way.

"Very well." Harry sighed. He watched as the spirit of Hogwarts castle did a victory dance, jumping around the room and clapping her hands with joy. She turned and threw herself at Harry who caught her in his arms.

That was when things got weird.

The woman changed, she became like liquid and flowed over Harry. It was rather surreal to see someone who had been as solid as anyone else suddenly became a blue liquid and flow over someone else. No one knew what was going on or what to do and they simply looked on as the liquid that had been Lady Hogwarts sank beneath Harry's skin.

The looked at Harry, he had changed. Whereas before his skin had been pale enough to make a ghost look tanned, he know had a more healthy skin tone even if it was still on the paler end of the spectrum. His hair was shorter, reaching to his waist rather than the floor and it was now a dark brown in colour. His build had also changed, previously he had been extremely thin but definitely a male but he now he had rather feminine curves making him more androgynous, he also had a slightly different facial structure..

They watched as Harry raised a hand to his blindfold and remove it from his face. They looked at his face as he lowered the hand holding the blindfold as his eyes flickered open. Whereas before he had red eyes with purple sclera, he now had purely golden eyes. There was no sclera, no iris and no pupil, there was just one colour across the entire eye. All of these differences put together would make him look like someone completely different, it was only when he took a step forward that the predatory gait let them know it was still Harry.

"I did not expect it to be this complete." Helena and Fran twitched backwards. They could hear Harry's voice but they could also hear Hogwarts voice as well, as if the two of them spoke at exactly the same time leading to the layered voice.

"What do you mean by that complete?" Helena asked, this wasn't what she had expected when she had heard Hogwarts ask for a bond.

"I meant to create a bond similar to that of a familiar, one that would connect us as I once had been. It seems I went a bit further than I meant to and two became one. For all intents and purposes I am now both Harry Potter and I am Lady Hogwarts in equal amounts, it is a rather weird feeling." The combination of two people in front of them began to run hands all over his/her body as if to try and work out what was going on.

"Is Harry still in there?" Fran asked rather warily, she could feel the prana connection between them so she wouldn't fade straight away, if anything the prana she was receiving had increased several times over.

"Of course, just as much as I am Hogwarts with added Harry, I am Harry with added Hogwarts. The difference is that Hogwarts has existed far longer and has more experiences to draw on whereas Harry has lived for little longer than twelve years." She replied and Fran relaxed slightly.

"Can you separate again?" Helena asked and Harrywart adopted a thinking pose that Harry would never have done before.

"I don't think so, at least not right away. I'm not entirely sure what we did to fuse like we have, let us experiment for a moment." Harrywart closed his/her eyes and they watched as his/her form rippled for a moment before settling into the more familiar form of Harry Potter.

He put his blindfold back on and turned towards the ghost and the heroic spirit. "I don't think it'll be so easy to separate completely. One of us can withdraw and leave the other in complete control, that seems to have the side effect of returning to one form or the other but that's as far as we can get." He looked pointedly at Fran. "Can you feel any change in the prana you're getting? I know there was some changes when we first merged, I want to know if you can still feel all of that magic."

Fran nodded. "It's still all there, it feels more like you than it did before but it's still the same quantity from when you first merged."

"Great, just great." Harry palmed his face again. "Dumbledore at the very least will notice the increase and I doubt he'll be alone in that. I don't want to know what people are going to think caused it but they'll probably jump to conclusions that I'd rather they didn't. We'll have to deal with that when it happens though, we have the weekend to come up with an excuse. Let's just get out of her for now."

Harry utilised the kaleidoscope and they all disappeared from where they were to outside the castle, near the forest. Harry wanted to know where the staff and students were before he just disappeared for the weekend, perhaps he'd see something that would implicate them as the heir of Slytherin.

What he did see was Ferret shouting and screaming about worthless mudbloods at Katie Bell, the only muggle-born on the Gryffindor team. It looked like Slytherin had lost the match and he was looking for an outlet for his frustration, unfortunately for him Harry had caught it and he didn't like it at all.

"Right, the first thing that I do on Monday is sort the Ferret out." Harry said with venom in his voice, Katie was shrinking away from Ferret and her eyes flickered to the Slytherin team behind Malfoy, why she was alone he didn't know but he'd make sure nothing happened to her before he disappeared for the weekend to try and work out what he was going to do about the giggling voice in his head that had just found some of his more embarrassing memories.


	25. Punishment, an Elf and a Question

AN: I got this chapter together quicker than I expected and I've put some foreshadowing for possible sequels in here that are probably too vague for anyone to guess but I'm curious what people think it might be. I don't have much to say here but there are some answers to questions I've been asked by review and PM in the chapter regarding Harry and Lady Hogwarts, it was a spur of the moment thing and it won't be a central theme, well it might develop into one if I get the right inspiration but I don't plan for that to happen. As usual, you can find my forum either on my profile or here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

Please enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think.

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 25 – Punishment, an Elf and a Question

Harry nervously fiddled with the charm bracelet he now wore, it was the best they could do with half a weekend but it didn't exactly inhibit his power much. That was one part of what they were trying to solve and Harry looked around the Great Hall as he ate his breakfast, he could already see who had noticed his change in power level.

Dumbledore himself didn't seem to take his eyes of Harry at all, he still seemed to think that Harry was going 'dark' and this power increase wouldn't help his opinion. The fact that Colin Creevy had been attacked and petrified the day of the match, some people thought he'd gone looking for Harry to get an autograph because of the photo he had in his hand, hadn't helped at all.

Harry had been feeding whatever excess energy he could into the castle wards in n effort to bleed out the excess but he seemed to be gaining more than he was loosing. The bracelet he wore seemed to clamp down on a fair amount of the excess magic but, even then, he still had huge amounts still to get rid of.

His spell work had suffered because of it, he was overpowering everything. This wouldn't normally matter where combat type spells were concerned, it would actually be an advantage. But overpowering a transfiguration was just as bad, if not worse, as underpowering it and he got all sorts of weird amalgamations out of it. His charms also seemed to be beyond ridiculous, a levitated feather would now embed itself in the solid stone ceiling rather than hover a few inches above his desk.

For the past week he'd been meditating and slowly, ever so slowly getting control over his magic back. He would hopefully have full control back by the time exams rolled around and then he would have to try and find a way to separate himself from Lady Hogwarts, someone that was rather trying to deal with.

Lady Hogwarts was like a young child on a sugar high despite having the body of an adult, a well-developed adult at that. She was intrigued by every little thing that she saw and had more questions than Hermione could ask in a decade, everything was new and interesting to her from broomsticks to new potions. When she had found out about Harry's projects with Mobile Phones and the like she had asked so many questions about the muggle world that it was driving Harry to insanity.

To get some peace he pointed her in the direction of his memories and knowledge, that hadn't worked out as he'd intended. The infantile castle spirit had balled her eyes out when she'd seen his memories of the Dursleys and when he had gone into his own mindscape to see what was up, she had latched onto him and hugged the stuffing out of him, not letting go for hours.

Harry was so thankful that he had his Occlumency and Memory Partition skills, Lady Hogwarts had existed since the founders had warded the castle and, when she wasn't focused on keeping her memories to herself, he was inundated with a flood of memories that were not his own. He rapidly developed another memory partition to deal with it and was working on another as he found that all of them were occupied with seeing everything that had happened since she had come into existence.

Those memories included the founders laughing and joking together, times during the first and second world war when muggle-borns had come into the school wary of everything around them, the times when members of the royal family had been witches and wizards, once when the lake had flooded and the kraken in the lake had swam in the Great Hall, a time when tensions between the wizarding world and centaurs had been at their worst and three purebloods had been strapped to a tree and pulled apart. Lady Hogwarts may have been asleep but she still retained everything that had ever happened within her halls, Harry had a minor headache that refused to go away at all times.

Other students had noticed that he was more moody lately, snapping at those who tried to talk to him and retreating even further from his peers. The staff also gave him odd looks in lesson, Harry had realised that, when he wasn't fully aware of himself, that Lady Hogwarts would sometimes answer for him and her way of speaking was rather different to his own. Where Harry's rhythm of speech was smooth and soft, like silk, it still held a sharp and dangerous edge like a blade dipped in poison. Lady Hogwarts' voice on the other hand was bubbly and joyful, inquisitive and curious so that, even if it was the same vocal cords being used, the voices were most definitely different.

Harry had taken to using a weakened projection of his wand recently, purposefully making it look like the original without having any of the properties. He was effectively doing all of his magic wandlessly, he needed to bleed off as much power as he could and wandless magic was very power intensive which was exactly what he needed.

He was having trouble sleeping as well, even if previously he only got an hour or two due to his advanced occlumency he now couldn't even get that. The immense magic that was held within him gave him a constant tingle, an effect similar to being dosed up to high heaven on caffeine. That and the fact that Lady Hogwarts never needed sleep kept him up night after night after night, he was sure that he would crash soon once it all became too much.

He had tried asking Elestia for help but she didn't know what to do, Lady Hogwarts had come into existence because of human interference and was fundamentally different to a nature spirit like her. This was also the first time that anything like this had happened as far as she knew and there was no precedent for it, hearing this made Harry want to bash his rains out on the nearest tree.

What Elestia could do was visit Harry's mind via the link between them and distract Lady Hogwarts for a while, she couldn't do this for long as it was a strain on both her and Harry but it allowed Harry to get short rests every now and then and she believed it was the least she could do, it was her idea that he contact Lady Hogwarts after all.

xxxxx

Harry looked at the note in his hand, he'd expected it for a while now. Dumbledore wanted to meet him in his office and he had left a little hint about the password. Harry snorted, how much more blatant could you get? 'PS: I find that the muggle candy Terry's Chocolate Orange is rather delicious' wasn't so much a hint as a slap in the face with a rotten fish.

Getting to his feet and thanking the Hufflepuff first year who had delivered the note, Harry made his way to the headmaster's office. His feet dragged and you could see the weariness in his gate, if he didn't find a solution to his problem with Lady Hogwarts soon then he would probably fall asleep during class. Harry might be a rather advanced student, his studies had him on the level of an upper third year to a lower fourth, but falling asleep in class wouldn't help him at all.

Giving the password to the gargoyle, Harry ascended the staircase to the headmaster's office and knocked on the door. Dumbledore would know it was him as he hadn't bothered messing with the identification ward on the floor like he had the previous year.

"Come in Mr. Potter." Dumbledore wasn't even putting on his grandfatherly persona, it sounded odd hearing the headmaster address him in such a tone but he preferred it to the image he normally used.

Opening the door, Harry saw that Dumbledore was there along with all four heads of house as well as the runes professor, Bethesda Babbling. At the sight of the last professor, Harry let out a flash of structural analysis around the room and found that the vacant chair had runes carved into the bottom of it. Harry nodded his head as he sat down.

"A truth ward, I see. It doesn't compel the truth but it does prevent lies. What do you want?" Harry asked as he settled into the chair, he enjoyed the surprised looks that all but Snape and Babbling wore and the accusatory looks Mcgonagall, Flitwick and Sprout shot Dumbledore.

"Very perceptive of you." Dumbledore said as soon as he regained control of himself. "It has been noticed that your power has increased greatly since the attack on Colin Creevy, far beyond the growth we expect a young witch or wizard to go through. We are, understandably, concerned and wish to reassure ourselves that nothing untoward has happened. The timing makes things suspect as you are, once again, the only member of the student body unaccounted for. I know that you profess to not being in the school during weekends but we have no way of confirming that with independent sources, the only contacts we have are those that you can provide. Do you agree to answer some questions for us?"

"I agree as long as several conditions are fulfilled." Harry told them, Dumbledore, Snape and Babbling looked as if they understood but the other three looked affronted that he would ask something like that. "I don't want questions to stray towards any of my personal matters and to remain limited to the topic in question." Dumbledore nodded his head at this and asked the first question.

"Where were you at six PM and onwards on Saturday the fourteenth of November nineteen ninety-two?" It seemed like Dumbledore knew how to phrase questions to avoid loopholes but he hadn't asked anything that Harry couldn't answer honestly.

"I was in the Clock Tower which is the name of my place of residence, it is located in London." Harry saw an orb on Dumbledore's desk glow green, it seemed that it was linked to the ward underneath his chair. Harry had wondered if it would have recognised what he said as a lie seeing as it wasn't in the London of this dimension but that worry appeared unfounded.

"Do you know anything at all about the attacks that have thus far claimed Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevy aside from the names of the victims?" Dumbledore asked.

"I have the suspicion that a basilisk is responsible for the petrifications but no proof. I have no evidence as to who is instigating the attacks nor can I prove how they may be doing it, I have theories and nothing more. For the record, I am not the one who is directly responsible for the attacks and nor am I knowingly playing any role in it." The orb glowed green and the atmosphere in the room relaxed at that, Harry's statement had been good enough that few could find loopholes in it, those who weren't looking for them at least.

"Putting the matter of the petrifications aside, How and why did your power increase to the levels it has and can we anticipate any more like it?" The tension returned to the room, it seemed that they had thought that Harry's changes could only be attributed to the attacks and had forgotten about it momentarily.

"My increase in power was unexpected and unanticipated, I am trying to find a way to undo it actually. It happened while I was trying to fulfil a request that had been asked of me and was completely unintentional. As far as any more boosts in power go, I don't think there will be and, like I said, I'm trying to reverse this one. I will say that it is causing problems and there is a likelihood that I will crash sometime soon, I haven't been getting much sleep because of it. I would appreciate it that, if it happens during a lesson, that someone would simply drop me into the hospital wing and leave me be." Harry noted that the professors looked curious at this, a few even looked sympathetic.

"I suppose that is the best that you will answer?" At Harry's nod Dumbledore sighed. "Then as long as you answer one more question I don't suppose we have an issue that really needs addressing. Was anyone or anything hurt, injured, killed or in any way impaired by the actions that caused this increase in your mower?"

Harry shook his head. "Aside from the effects on my own person, no. If I could get the side effects under control then no-one at all would have been affected in a negative manner."

The teacher's started to leave and Harry leaned backwards into his seat, rubbing at his temples to try and ease his constant headache. Sighing to himself, Harry also stood as the last professor filed out of the room. He followed but when he was at the door he turned back to Dumbledore.

"Headmaster, just because I'm not under your thumb doesn't mean I'm against you. I can respect you for your defeat of Gellert Grindlewald and for keeping the peace in the Wizengamot for half a century but I would be much happier if you stayed out of my life." With that, Harry left the room and headed out towards the lake.

Harry didn't stay long enough to see Dumbledore reach into his robes and withdraw a locket. Opening the locket, Dumbledore gained a wistful air about himself as he looked at the two people painted on either side of the locket. On one side was a handsome young man who appeared to be foreign, perhaps German, and on the other was a young girl who was sat on a chair looking all around herself with curiosity, she bore quite a resemblance to the aged headmaster.

"Perhaps he is right, am I really doing things for the greater good? What would you say now Gellert? What of you, Arianna?" Dumbledore closed his eyes and a single tear leaked from under his left eyelid, trailing down his cheek to fall on his colourful robes.

xxxxx

A few days later, Harry decided that there was more he could do to help control his new levels of magic power. The fact that I would help him get back at Ferret was just a bonus, one that he was looking forward to very much. While his magic core was inflated to such huge proportions, he still had a fair amount of control over his magic circuits and that left him several options as far as revenge went.

Having donned his invisibility cloak one night and applied several charms to himself to quieten his footsteps and breath and mask his scent against those with sensitive noses, it didn't matter if he overpowered these as that would simply improve his chances of success, he headed off to the dungeons.

One positive about sharing head space with Lady Hogwarts was that, as long as it was covered by the central ward stone, he had full access to the castle. He didn't need passwords to get past doors and the stairs would change to suit his needs, he could actually awaken the armour if he wanted to though he saw no need for it.

Guided by Lady Hogwarts' voice in his head, Harry soon came across a patch of wall that seemed to be a slightly different colour than the walls around it. Silently asking Lady Hogwarts to open the way in his head, the wall in front of him slid sideways revealing the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

Harry took a moment to look around at the room and took note that it was rather different to the Hufflepuff one and the Ravenclaw's. Whereas the Hufflepuff common room had been filled with light and had several roaring fireplaces and the Ravenclaw common room had the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw in the middle with bookshelves in the walls, the Slytherin common room was long and low with rough stone walls and ceiling. It was rather austere despite that and an elaborated carved mantelpiece sat above the fireplace that, he guessed, would have a roaring fire going on cold days. Several round lanterns hung from the ceiling on chains, they must be magical as the light was constant and didn't flicker like a candle would and Harry remained under his cloak as he made his way towards the far end of the common room.

When he'd made it there, he looked at the two passageways before him that must lead to the boys and girls dormitories. A quick structural analysis showed that there was some kind of ward over the one on the right that would act solid whenever a male came into contact with it, that must mean that way led to the girls dormitories so Harry headed down the heft passageway.

Travelling down the passageway, there was soon a passageway on the left hand side with a sign declaring it to be the fourth years dormitory, soon after there was another passageway that was for fifth years. Another four passageways later, Harry found the second year boys rooms.

A short walk down this passageway found him standing before ten doorways, the nameplates were set up in such a way that it was obvious they could hold up to four people per room but, as there were only five Slytherin males in second year, most were unoccupied.

Harry passed by the room with Theodore Nott's name on it, he ignored the one with Blaise Zabini's name too. He stopped at the one with Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle though, why the two of them were sharing a room when there was sixteen unoccupied rooms he didn't want to know.

Shaking his head, Harry took a look at the door baring the name of Draco Malfoy. A quick structural analysis showed that there were no wards on the door itself or any immediately on the other side. That was stupid, he had already checked and both Nott's and Zabini's rooms had wards on them. How Draco Malfoy became a Slytherin was beyond him, maybe he was simply even more unsuited for any other house? Personally, Harry had him mentally pegged as a 'stereotypical Gryffindor' with how reckless and brash he was. Not that he thought Gryffindors were actually like that but that was what people believed Gryffindors were supposed to be like.

Asking Hogwarts whether Ferret was actually in there and getting a positive reply, Harry reinforced his hearing and focused on the room. The heavy breaths that signified sleep made Harry gain a feral grin, Zelretch really had had an effect on Harry he realised, he was so going to enjoy this.

Scanning and reinforcing the door so that it wouldn't creak, Harry slipped into the room and shut the door behind him. A quick flash of structural analysis showed that there were actually no wards at all in the room which disappointed Harry a little, he would have liked a better challenge.

Harry walked up to the bed with silent footsteps and looked at the sleeping boy. Wait, were those curlers in his hair? Harry had to stop for a minute as he looked at Ferret and saw that he had a slice of cucumber over each eye as well as some kind of facial cream smeared on his face. Harry's shoulders shook with laughter that he fought to keep within as he saw a book of beauty tips for 'those special witches' on the bedside table, he hadn't thought the ponce would go this far.

Once he had gotten a grip of himself, Harry pulled out a knife from under his cloak as he approached the bed. Oh, how he would enjoy this. He crept close and closer, a smile splitting his face in two as he leaned over the defenceless boy and lowered the knife towards him.

With a quick slice he retreated and fled from the room, his prize in his hand. A quick application of the Kaleidoscope had him sitting on his bed in the tower cackling as he looked at what was held in his hand.

Shaking himself, he made his way up to his workshop where the next part of his task awaited him. Witchcraft had been one of the first aspects of Magecraft that Harry had learned but he hadn't gotten as far as he would have liked. This was a chance to try again and learn more about the subject, it was widely used in the Japan of his home dimension and he would end up there when he participated in the Grail War, whether he was a chosen master or not.

There was a bit of wood carved into the likeness of a person but only in the vaguest sense, it was in a shape that had to legs, two arms and a head all in the arrangement a human would have them. He added what he had just retrieved from the Slytherin dormitory, hairs from Draco Malfoy's head.

Inscribing the Ferret's name on the hitogata, the predecessor of straw dolls, he pushed some magic into it before placing it back down on the bench. It would be more effective if it was somewhere that Draco Malfoy often frequented but leaving it here would do for now, he didn't want the ferret dead or anything.

On the other side of the wooden figure was the Japanese symbols for bad luck, it would be rather interesting to see what would become of the ferret within the next few weeks until he decided to get rid of it. It was a shame that it required a fresh sample of hair every time a new one was made, otherwise he would simply drain the magic from it and then power it up again whenever Ferret pushed his luck. It was one aspect of sympathetic magic that Harry could actually do and he was trying to think of what other aspects of witchcraft he could use like this.

xxxxx

Draco Malfoy awoke the next day and he had a bad feeling about what was to come but he ignored it, it wasn't like anything could happen to him, he was a Malfoy after all and no one would want to piss his father off.

He got dressed in his freshly laundered clothing that the castle house elves had set at the foot of his bed but when he came to put his socks on he must have pulled too hard, they tore and he now had a toe poking out of a hole. It wasn't anything major, a quick charm and they were as good as new.

That was when he'd forgotten to wash his face of his mask that he wore at night, the one that would maintain his good looks. Pulling his shirt away from him, he felt the stickiness that told him the inside of his clothes were covered in the cream. He simply removed it and threw it on the pile in need of washing before he stepped into the en suite bathroom that all the Slytherin rooms had.

He stripped down to nothing and stepped into the shower stall. Turning the handle to activate the water runes in the shower head did nothing, what the boy didn't know was that there was a scratch on the rune making it erratic and unpredictable. Turning the handle back and forth several times did nothing so the boy, in all of his great genius, decided that peering at the shower head from an inch away would somehow help him divine and solve the issue. It was at this point that the rune decided to activate... at full power.

Draco was blasted back by a torrent of water right in the face and he was washed out back into his room, his formerly dry clothes with him. Deciding that he was clean enough now, Draco looked around for his wand which had also been washed out with his clothes. He was just in time to see it roll out from under his door.

Draco saw that the towel he had intended to use was also soaked as well as his clothes so he couldn't exactly get dry without either another towel or his wand to cast a drying charm. The fact that his spare towel was in the pile of things that needed washing decided it, the time was early enough that his Slytherin year mates were probably not up yet and thus it was safe for him to retrieve his wand without any clothes on.

Unfortunately for Draco, the male Slytherins had all gotten up early for various reason. Crabbe and Goyle needed to scrape together something for their homework, Nott was sending an early morning owl to his parents and Zabini simply wanted to get to breakfast early.

All of this meant that when Draco opened the door to retrieve his wand he was not met with an empty corridor but all of the other Slytherin second year boys. They all froze and it was Blaise Zabini that broke the silence.

"You know, I didn't expect the 'high and noble' scion of the Malfoy family to be into something like streaking." He smirked, there was bad blood between the Zabinis and the Malfoys due to the fact that Blaise's mother had rejected a marriage offer from Lucius Malfoy saying that 'French rejects' were beneath her, Lucius Malfoy hadn't taken that very well at all.

All of the boys laughed at the unfortunate boy as he retrieved his wand before retreating to his room and slamming the door. The door took this opportunity to decide that the hinges were too old to support it and promptly fell down flat to reveal a still naked Draco Malfoy's behind to them all.

A furious and red Draco Malfoy repaired the door with a quick spell and started casting drying charms all about the room and on his clothes for the day, he'd be damned if anything else embarrassing happened to him that day!

xxxxx

Unfortunately for him, that wasn't what was going to happen. He had just entered the Great Hall to eat breakfast when his shoelaces somehow came undone and he fell face first onto the floor in the middle of the Great Hall. This isn't what made everyone stop and stare though, the noise did that.

The noise in question was the sound of ripping and tearing coming from said blonde. When he'd fallen over his robes had fallen forwards and over his head too, this wouldn't be so bad if the seat of his pants hadn't torn at that exact moment too and gave the entire hall a view of his rear.

The Weasley twins were the first to laugh and Harry let out a small chuckle, he was the unlucky one who happened to be sitting right in front of Malfoy when the incident had happened. That let the flood gates open and the hall resounded with laughter form all four houses.

Seeing Mcgonagall and Snape heading their way from the head table, Harry drew his wan and repaired the blonde's trousers as Ferret hastily got to his feet, his face almost glowing with how red it was. Seeing Harry with his wand out and pointed in his direction, the ferret thought he'd found someone to blame.

"It was Potter! He obviously wants to embarrass me but he's just proving how inferior he is!" He cried as he pointed a finger at Harry who simply re-holstered his wand.

"Well thanks," Harry snorted. "Fix a guy's robes and he accuses you of being inferior. If you can't walk without tripping over, don't blame me for your clumsiness."

By this point the Gryffindor and Slytherin heads of house had gotten to them, Draco decided to once again accuse Harry of causing the incident to Snape. The potions professor raised an eyebrow and asked Mcgonagall, who was closer, to check Harry's wand.

Harry handed his wand over to the transfiguration professor who shuddered. The wand felt wrong in her hand and not the wrong that casting with a mismatched wand felt like, the wand itself felt alive as if it was crawling all over hand. She stood there and stared at the wand for a few seconds, it felt like the wand was trying to whisper something in her ear, something harsh and unpleasant. It was almost like the wand was demanding to be given back to its true owner or she would suffer its wrath, she almost believed that it could do that for a moment.

Shaking her head to rid it of such thoughts, even if they remained at the edge of her mind, she quickly cycled through the last five spells Harry had cast in reverse order. There was the repairing charm that had fixed Malfoy's robes, a levitation charm, a summoning charm, a tempus charm that told you the time and a basic lumos spell.

Thrusting the wand back at Harry to get the weird thoughts she'd been having out of her head, Mcgonagall turned to Malfoy who'd been watching the spells come out of Potter's wand. "Well Mr Malfoy, it looks like Mr Potter had nothing to do with your little accident. Five points from Slytherin for your baseless accusation, now get your breakfast before lessons begin." She said before retreating to the head table, idly rubbing at the hand that had held Harry's wand as it still felt like something was there.

Malfoy threw a disgusted look at Potter as if he believed Potter should be punished, whether he'd done something or not, simply because Draco Malfoy wanted it. When the blonde Slytherin slipped off the bench and fell face first into a bowl of porridge, Harry just shook his head and said that he wasn't going to make the same mistake twice by helping him.

xxxxx

Of course, there were far more things that happened to Draco Malfoy that were attributed to bad luck. Actually, some people thought that he'd been cursed but Madam Pomfrey could find no evidence of any spell being cast on him at all no matter how many times he went to her. During all of this, Harry simply sat back and observed the happenings with a camera close at hand.

Leaving Draco Malfoy's string of bad luck aside, it turned out that Hermione had in fact roped Neville into helping with the polyjuice potion project she had going. With Harry supplying her with the ingredients that she didn't have readily available, there was no need to go and steal from Snape's private stores which would be insulting and dangerous. Hermione had thought that brewing the potion in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom would be a good idea, Harry had disabused her of that notion though as he _knew_ that the Chamber of Secrets had an entrance there. It would be rather comical for them to be brewing a potion to try and prove someone to be the heir of Slytherin, when they were doing said brewing just outside their target's secret base.

Instead they were doing the brewing in the harbour where the first years docked their boats every September first, no one else used it and it was a very out of the way place to do secret things. Harry had put up a bounded field there so he knew if anyone did randomly turn up there, just in case.

Harry, Hermione and Neville were there now getting a start on the polyjuice potion, Hermione had actually made a schedule of when each ingredient had to be added and what needed to be done at each stage which was now stuck to the wall above the cauldron.

The bushy-haired brunette was now sat on a stool that Harry had brought down shrunk in his pocket, she was poring over the notes that she'd duplicated from the book 'Moste Potente Potions' and that Harry had charmed water and fire proof as well as being more resilient to wear and tear.

Neville was looking through a list of all the ingredients they needed and making notes next to the plants that would help them get the highest potency from those ingredients in particular. Neville was amazing with plants and, with Harry surreptitiously reinforcing the ingredients whenever he could get at them, the potion was sure to be a good one.

Harry himself was sat at the edge of the harbour with his feet actually in the water, he was stroking an errant tentacle from the kraken. Since he had found out what the giant squid actually was, Harry had researched all he could about the rather rare species. They were apparently extremely intelligent and, while they couldn't actually speak, they could learn and respond to languages. Harry had taken to teaching the kraken morse code and sign language so he could better communicate with it, he found the project to be an interesting one.

Len was sat quite some distance away from the edge of the water and was glaring the kraken's tentacle, Len had not been amused when said tentacle had splashed water at her as it came to say hi to Harry who had spent a fair amount of time with it over the past week.

Liz and Fran were elsewhere in the castle, the former had found a book about how to charm musical instruments and Harry had told her he would charm an orchestra for her if she did enough research. Fran on the other hand was trying to find out who the heir of Slytherin could be, she did not like the thought that a threat to her master could be so close by.

Harry's eyes flickered upwards and he grinned to himself. Ever since they'd went down to the central ward stone together, Helena had taken to spending more time around him than she had before. Whereas they used to randomly meet in the corridors or somewhere, now the Ravenclaw house ghost actively sought his company. It had been rather amusing to see the looks on everyone's face when the Grey Lady sat at the Hufflepuff table one meal time and engaged him in conversation, even the professors had been taken aback by that.

Helena was now invisible to all normal eyes that would look upon her but, like he could see a Heroic Spirit whether they were astralised or not, he alone could clearly see her reading Hermione's notes over the second year's shoulder. He was also the only one who could hear her mutter about how to possibly improve the potion, he made a note to write it all down later and then try it himself to see if it worked.

"Right, that's all we can do for today. We'll have to check up on it regularly but the next ingredient doesn't need to be added for three days." Hermione said as she examined the recipe in her hands.

She looked up at Neville. "How are things going for the ingredient list?" She asked. Neville looked towards her after making one more note on the parchment in his hand.

"I've owled Gran and she should be sending some of the plants from my greenhouses at home, she was ever so happy to hear that I was making more of an effort in a subject I'm only average at. The plants at home are well-established and I use enhanced dragon dung for compost, that's a bit beyond the school budget, so the ingredients should be as good as we can get." He said, involving Neville in this was doing wonders for his confidence and Harry had noticed some of his grades creeping up too.

"Harry..." Hermione went to say, that was until she saw him stroking a tentacle and tapping on it in morse code. She blinked when Harry stopped and the kraken began to tap a reply on the edge of the harbour next to the black and purple haired boy.

"Harry, what on earth are you doing?" She asked bewildered. Harry did odd things occasionally but this really took the cake, she didn't think that a squid could be that intelligent even with magic involved.

"Trying to teach her morse code, it's working quite well." Hermione just shook her head at the enigma that was Harry Potter, if he wanted to teach an aquatic cephalopod morse code then who was she to stop him?

"Okay then." Hermione took a moment to remember what she was going to say. "Right, I was going to ask about those ingredients you got me for the potion. Where did you get them? I know that you didn't steal them from Snape's private stores like we were going to."

Harry leaned back and turned his upper body to face Hermione. "Did it really not occur to you to owl an apothecary?" Harry asked her with amusement.

Judging by her expression, she hadn't thought of that at all. Harry simply chuckled to himself as they all got up to leave, it wouldn't do for there to be another attack and they couldn't be accounted for. Harry tilted his head to one side, he wondered whether it was a coincidence that both attacks thus far had occurred on a Saturday.

xxxxx

One evening Harry was heading towards the kitchens, he could really do with a mug of hot chocolate, when there was a sharp crack that made him spin around, a blade already projected in his hand.

He managed to stop himself just in time to not decapitate a house elf. Harry looked at what was in front of him, one house elf in a dirty and ragged pillowcase was pinned to the floor by three of the Hogwarts elves in their clean and tidy pillowcases embroidered with the Hogwarts crest. In front of this was the elf that Harry had almost decapitated, an older male elf that Harry had often seen in the kitchens.

"Good evening Tibby," Harry said to the elf in front of him as he allowed the blade he had projected to fade. "May I ask why you have come looking for me? I assume it has something to do with those behind you."

"We have got the elf that was targeting you! We managed to get him before he could do anything else, Harry Potter sir wanted to know when we got him so here we are." Tibby said.

Harry nodded and thanked the Hogwarts elf before stepping up to the ragged elf that was being pinned to the floor by the other three. He knelt down before the one that was looking wildly about until his eyes locked on Harry.

"Harry Potter sir!" The elf in question squeaked. "You need to get out of here, it isn't safe!" Well that wasn't what Harry had been expecting, he had thought that the elf had been ordered here by its master to assist in whatever was happening around the castle.

"Calm down, we will get nowhere if you continue with your rambling." Harry waited for the elf to calm down before continuing. "Right, now that you are calm, can you tell me your name? I can't exactly keep referring to you as just elf now, can I?"

"I is Dobby, sir." The elf, apparently named Dobby, told him. "Bad things be happening at Hogwarts this year and Dobby tried to protect Harry Potter, he failed so Dobby tried to get him away from the danger!"

Well that explained all the incidents the elf had caused, if he had been normal and received injuries from some of those things then he would have had to be transferred to Saint Mungo's. That didn't tell him what was going on though and nor did it tell him who was responsible.

"Dobby, will you answer any questions I ask of you as honestly as you can?" Harry knew that an elf couldn't go against a direct order by his or her master but this one was apparently trying to get around whatever limitations he had.

"Of course I will, Harry Potter sir." The elf replied and stopped struggling underneath the three elves keeping him pinned. Harry didn't tell them to get off as Dobby could then escape and Harry didn't want that.

"My first question is this, who is responsible for the danger?" Seeing Dobby thinking about it, Harry decided to be more direct with his questions. "Who is the one _directly_ responsible for the danger?" Dobby didn't answer immediately but Harry didn't interrupt his thinking time to ask a more pointed question, it seemed that Dobby was trying to think of a way of answering that wouldn't go against his orders.

"Harry Potter was the one who defeated the dark lord so young and Dobby heard that he faced him ago mere months ago as well." He said.

"So Voldemort is the one responsible?" Harry asked but Dobby shook his head, his eyes seemingly trying to convey an answer to him.

"Your answer leads directly to him and I did ask who _directly_ was responsible so it isn't one of his followers." Harry thought for a moment. "Voldemort is not his real name though so if Voldemort is responsible but not as Voldemort then it would be what he was before Voldemort. Dobby, is Tom Riddle _directly _responsible for what the danger is?"

Dobby nodded his head vigorously, it seemed that he'd been ordered not to tell anyone who was responsible but he could still confirm a guess, wording was important when it came to magically binding instructions and oaths.

"So we know who is directly responsible for it, that's the who. The when is obviously now what with the Chamber of Secrets débâcle. All that is left is the why, the how, the where is obvious though. The why is unnecessary, the motive doesn't matter right now, that leaves the how. Voldemort isn't responsible but Tom Riddle is, that means that it has to be something that Riddle left behind. What could it be?" Harry had learned that Who, What, Where, When, Why and How usually gave as complete a picture as necessary to solve something and this is what he was trying to do now.

"So something left behind by Tom Riddle before he became Voldemort is responsible for the chamber opening and the basilisk getting loose. It is probably something that was instigated by an outside force otherwise you probably wouldn't know about it, if it was something found inside the castle then why would a non-Hogwarts elf know?" What was it though? It could be anything at all.

"Hang on. Dobby, can you tell me which family you belong to?" That would help him figure out how it came to be in the school at least, if he knew the family that brought it in to the castle then he could narrow down the suspects somewhat.

Dobby shook his head. "I cannot tell who I belong to, bad master has forbidden it." Well that sucked, house elves came with rich families and there were plenty of them around. He couldn't do what he did with the Voldemort thing to find out who his family was, there were simply too many possibilities and there was no guarantee that Harry actually knew the family to begin with.

Harry shook his head, he could figure some more out later, what was important right now was getting Dobby to stop attempting to injure him. "Right, leaving the issue of your family aside for now, can you tell me how I could be in danger personally?" It wasn't like he could be affected by a basilisk's gaze what with both his own mystic eyes as well as his blindfold in the way.

"All you need to do is see to be in danger! Mr. Harry Potter sir needs to leave for his own safety!" Dobby cried aloud, it was rather surprising that his loud and squeaky voice hadn't attracted the attention of anyone else but, then again, Harry did have a preference for the less crowded corridors and hallways.

_There is also the fact that I sealed off the secret passageways and doorways leading this way_ Lady Hogwarts said in his mind.

_Thanks for that_ Harry replied. _I didn't think of doing something like that, didn't even know you were capable of it, so kudos to you._

_I am Hogwarts. The stairs and wards may be able to operate without me but I can override it all any time I want, it's essentially what I'm for._ She told him, she sounded a little sad near the end though.

_That's great!_ Harry told her in an attempt to cheer her up, though how you cheer a castle up he didn't really know. _What else can you do?_ It would be useful to know what she could do regardless but if asking cheered her up then all the better.

_Thank you!_ Hogwarts said. _I'm also the only one who can wake the armour up, I can control the intensity of the wards and activate the siege wards when necessary. I can seal any of the doorways, windows or passageways in the castle, whether they're part of the main castle or one of the secret passageways. I can take control of the stairs if I wanted too, otherwise they move randomly. I can locate anyone within the castle, all I need for that is a name. I can command the portraits to do what I want. I can also banish someone from the castle and grounds if I really need to._ Well that was useful to know, that last one especially.

"Dobby, look at me and tell me the first thing you notice about me." He said to the elf.

Dobby looked confused and replied. "Harry Potter sir's hair?"

Harry shook his head in exasperation. "No Dobby, I meant my blindfold. You said that as long as I can see then I am a potential victim, correct?" At Dobby's nod, Harry continued. "Then how can I be a victim if I can't make eye contact with the basilisk?" He asked.

Dobby's round eyes widened comically at that, it looked like the wizarding world's lack of common sense didn't just apply to the humans. Dobby seemed to have found something else to add to his point though.

"But what about its venom?" He asked and Harry couldn't help it, he laughed aloud.

"Dobby, if there is one thing that I don't need to fear it is snake venom. Sure, it'll hurt like a bitch but even basilisk venom won't kill me. It might leave me in excruciating pain, it might be nothing more than a tingle but, either way, as long as it is _snake _venom then it won't kill me." Dobby seemed to accept that at last.

"Dobby is sorry. Dobby only wanted to save Harry Potter sir but Harry Potter sir is not needing saving." The elf's ears seemed to droop in shame, he'd probably realised how much he could have hurt Harry for no reason with his attempts to get him away from the castle.

"Dobby, don't worry about it. As long as you don't try and _save _me any more then you and I have no issue with each other. If there is anything else that you can tell me to help then pop back whenever I'm alone, I will listen to what you have to say at least." Harry told the elf as he helped Dobby to his feet, something that made the elf blush.

"Very well then Harry Potter sir, if Dobby ever thinks of anything else useful then he'll be right back. Farewell for now Mr. Harry Potter sir!" Dobby said and with a crack he vanished into thin air.

Shaking his head, Harry looked at the four remaining elves. "Thank you for bringing him to me. I would appreciate it if the house elves kept an ear out for anything amiss that might be lead to this 'heir of Slytherin', the sooner this issue is over and done with the better." Harry thanked the elves one last time before continuing to the kitchens, he really wanted that mug of hot chocolate!

xxxxx

Harry held some kind of amulet in his hand, he looked at it with bemusement. Ever since Colin Creevy had been attacked there had been a sudden surge in the trade of protective amulets, talismans and other devices. Some of the more unusual ones had been a large, evil-smelling green onion, some kind of weird pointy purple crystals and rotting newt-tails. How any of them were supposed to protect you was anyone's guess.

The amulet Harry held in his hand however was different. Harry had taken to structurally analysing every one of these 'protections' that he came across to see what they actually were and this one actually had some kind of magic in it. What kind of magic was anyone's guess, it seemed to slip away from him whenever he tried to get a grip on it.

It had been amusing to see who purchased these so called protective devices, not all of them had been muggle-born. There was a third year Gryffindor girl called Chloe who was a pureblood and she bought one of the talismans, her excuse was that she was a supposed 'blood traitor' and her family were very pro-muggle so she might be in danger.

There were several talismans that were supposed to be suspended above a bed to protect the sleeper, they resembled dream-catchers and there was a little bit of magic in them. They weren't powerful enough to actually do much but Harry had checked a few of them and they would facilitate calm sleep, no matter how minor an effect they had.

Harry had managed to gather some of the 'protective' devices that definitely shouldn't be called such, some of them were actually rather malicious. There was a straw doll that he'd gotten that was supposed to protect anyone who put one of their hairs in it but, while it did work on the concept of sympathetic magic, it would do more harm than good. That particular straw doll would have increased someone's chances of having an accident and if a quidditch player got a hold of it...

Harry simply thought that it was a good thing that he'd managed to get a hold of it before someone plummeted to their death. He was taking that doll apart as quickly as he could, he couldn't simply destroy it as there were several hairs in it and burning it would cause rather severe pain in those stupid people, he didn't think Madam Pomfrey would like having more patients than necessary.

Another of the malicious objects was some kind of carrot looking thing, Harry didn't think he'd ever seen something like it before. The vegetable in question sustained itself by draining the life out of things around it, in a desert that would be an admirable survival trait but in a dormitory full of teenage humans, while not lethal, wouldn't be pleasant.

Harry wondered where some of these things were coming from, they seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and spread throughout the entire student body. Even the staff seemed to have been a little affected by it as Harry was sure that he'd seen an unusual talisman sticking out of the pocket of Charity Burbage, the muggle studies professor.

Harry looked at the amulet in his hand again. "What are you?" He asked. Some might say that talking to inanimate objects was the first sign of insanity but Harry didn't care, it wasn't like he was concerned with the opinion of the masses anyway.

Harry had tried pushing some prana into the amulet and it had sucked it up greedily then done nothing else. Harry could tell that there was some kind of innate magic in the amulet beyond simply storing whatever was put into it but whatever it was wasn't exactly giving him an instruction manual to work with. It was in the shape of a cross overlaying a circle, a dark blue gem was set into the middle of it and there was a cross etched into each arm of the pendant. The design seemed significant but Harry didn't have a clue where it was from, he doubted it was Christian in origin and that was the first thought he'd had on seeing the cross design.

Bouncing the amulet in his hand, Harry decided that he would continue to feed his prana into it and see if there was anything further he could divine from it. His newest project decided, he hung the amulet around his neck and left to attend to his next lesson of the day, Charms.

xxxxx

In the second week of December, Harry went up to Professor Sprout and added his name to those that were going to stay over the Christmas holidays. He would have to stay to make sure that nothing went wrong when Hermione and Neville drank the polyjuice potion, that was due to be ready around about the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth of December, a rather auspicious date for their task.

Harry had made sure that they had enough potion for six doses, it wouldn't do for them to run out and an hour wasn't actually all that much time really. Harry could just see it now, they would actually get some information about the 'heir of Slytherin' and then would begin to change back before they could ask any more questions.

There had been one surprise though. Dumbledore had stopped Harry in the corridor and asked to speak with him, it was done without the usual probing questions that Harry had become accustomed to from the headmaster and he agreed to see him after classes.

Once his last lesson of the day had been over and done with, a lesson from Flitwick that was all about charming Christmas decorations, Harry headed off to the headmaster's office with Len sat proudly on his shoulder and his two Heroic Spirits flanking him in their astralised form.

Giving the password to the gargoyle, 'Dairy Milk', Harry wondered what Dumbledore might want to speak to him about. Recently the headmaster had seemed far older than he had previously, he had seemed to be thinking deeply about something but what that was Harry didn't know.

Dumbledore had often glanced at Harry but it wasn't the calculating glances that he'd cast in his direction before, it was more of a measuring look. Harry didn't know what was going on with the old coot but he much preferred the meddling old codger that he'd been dealing with for almost a year and a half now, he understood that and this 'new' Dumbledore seemed to be a completely different kettle of fish.

Arriving at the top, Harry decided that he would once again avoid the detection array that was etched into the floor and, once he'd done that, he knocked on the door.

"Come in Mr. Potter." Dumbledore called out. Harry was a little disappointed by that, he wondered how he knew it was him. He was also wondering if this bout of childishness was another side effect of his merging with Lady Hogwarts, it was the sort of thing she'd pout over.

"Yes Professor Dumbledore? You wished to see me." Harry walked in. Something must have tipped Dumbledore off that Harry was disappointed in being identified despite avoiding that particular ward if his chuckle was anything to go by.

"I have used that particular rune array since I became headmaster and you are the first to get past it without setting it off, that in itself clued me in on who is at the door." Harry shrugged at that, he supposed it was as good an explanation as he was likely to get.

"Mr. Potter, I have been looking at myself objectively recently. Something you said at our last meeting struck a nerve, I think that's the phrase, and I wish to speak with you. I am an old man, quite a bit past a century, and you are not yet a teenager. Would you care to talk philosophy with me?" Harry eyed Dumbledore warily, this wasn't what he had expected.

Harry had expected that Dumbledore's recently lack of interference was to lower his guard to allow for this attempt to be successful but it didn't seem that way. Talking philosophy with Albus Dumbledore is something that many would sign over their souls for but Harry wondered what the old man wanted to gain out of this, their philosophies were like night and day in contrast. Dumbledore believed that everyone should be given a second chance, that they be given chances until they reformed themselves which all too often never happened. Harry's philosophy was to not give them a second chance to harm you or those that you cared about, his philosophy was that an enemy was to be taken out permanently.

He didn't believe that Dumbledore was naïve enough to believe that he could convert Harry's way of thinking with a single discussion, a series of discussions would never alter his view of the world. If Harry had grown up in another way then he perhaps might have been convinced but his treatment from the Dursleys had given his outlook a push away from forgiveness and sympathy, his childhood at the clock tower had only exacerbated that.

There was no room for forgiveness at the Clock Tower, magi stabbed each other in the back far too often for them to be careless. Only his connection to Zelretch had spared Harry from a significant portion of that, he could have ended up as someone's experimental guinea pig without it. He had been willing to look at this world with fresh eyes but his initial opinions that he'd formed at the Clock Tower remained with him, his personal bias as it were.

"Forgive me headmaster but my philosophy is rather different to yours, radically different some might say. My beliefs are based upon my bonds with my family and those close to me. As I understand things, your beliefs are based upon your close relationship with Gellert Grindlewald in your youth, a man that you ended up facing on the battlefield. Separate sets of circumstance made each of us what we are now and I don't see how you wish to compare and, as you put it, discuss our separate philosophies." Harry said carefully as he looked at Dumbledore warily.

"Ah yes, your family." The headmaster said. "A large number of students are leaving for the holidays, it seems the scare of the Chamber of Secrets will leave our castle somewhat empty over the festive season. There will also be very few staff members at the castle and I suppose that there is no reason to not ask you this question." Dumbledore took a breath before asking a question that Harry certainly hadn't been expecting.

"I would not mind it if your family stayed here for Christmas. In fact, I wish to offer an invitation for your family to be guests of Hogwarts over the festive season, will you accept?"


	26. The Duelling Club

AN: Well I wrote this quicker than I expected to. As I'm writing this, I put the last chapter up only yesterday. I've been asked about a few things, one of them being Luna Lovedgood, and I'll give a few answers here. First, the Grail War is between third and fourth year. Second, Luna will tun up next chapter, whether she's a main character or not is unknown though doubtful. Third, I don't think that Harry will get a full compliment of seven servants but if I am hit by something then it may end up that way, doubtful though. Fourth, because turning Rin into an iguana would be awesome so there! Fifth, I'm not entirely sure where the vampire carrot came from, blame it on my sleep deprived mind. Sixth, Malfoy could be a good guy if he's given the right push, whether any of the characters give him that push and when they do it (if at all) is another thing. Seventh (the magical number), No the pendant from the last chapter hasn't got anything to do with the quincy from bleach, guess again.

As always, you can find my forum either on my profile or here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

Please enjoy the chapter.

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 26 – The Duelling Club

Harry left the Headmaster's office in a state of complete confusion. Harry had told the headmaster that he would have to ask his family what they thought about coming to Hogwarts for the holidays before he could give him an answer to that rather unexpected question.

After that though, they had spoken at great length about the philosophy that each of them held. Harry did agree with Dumbledore that someone was better off becoming a useful member of society rather than a prison inmate, the difference being that Dumbledore would give virtually anyone a second chance and Harry would only do so for minor crimes. The two of them had a mutual dislike of dementors, even if Harry had only read about them, and Dumbledore had mentioned something called a patronus charm that was supposed to be he only possible defence against them.

The two of them discussed what punishment was warranted for what crime, Harry thought that theft and destruction of property warranted community service and fines which Dumbledore agreed with. That Harry thought murder and rape deserved the death penalty was something that they disagreed on though, Dumbledore believed that it would simply need a firmer hand to deal with them, Harry thought that making an example of them would be an appropriate response. If someone knew that rape would get them killed then they would be far less likely to commit such a crime, that was Harry's opinion anyway.

The discussion moved on from crime and punishment and into bloodlines, the whole pureblood, halfblood, and muggle-born thing. Harry said that all three of them had their own advantages, purebloods had their line magics that they could inherit such as a metamorphmagus ability, parseltongue, telepathy, seer skills and other talents. The pure and half-bloods also knew about magic from an early age and, as such, could learn about it before Hogwarts unlike muggle-borns. The half-bloods got bits of both worlds, they could know about magic from an early age and inherit line magics from their purely magical parent while, on the muggle side, they would get a primary school education.

It may not seem like much to boast about, going to primary school, but it made a far greater difference than you might think. Most pureblood children are taught at home whatever skills their parents or carers pass on to them, this means that their grasp on the English language isn't always the best, their mathematics is good for managing money and little else, they don't get any history lessons until they meet boring Binns, they never learn any of the sciences and they tend to have very small social circles which leads to a lack of social skills.

One of the main advantages that muggle-borns have is that magic is new to them. Whereas both half-bloods and purebloods grew up with it and thus learned the 'limitations' of magic, muggle-borns didn't. Their first taste of the magical world was whatever they were shown by whoever came along to explain their acceptance letter. Such displays would often wow the child and his or her parents into awe. It wasn't exactly much of a surprise that a little more than sixty percent of all new magical discoveries were made by muggle-borns, a little less than thirty percent is attributed to half-bloods while the last ten percent is purebloods who can afford the research costs incurred.

It had been an interesting discussion, quite possibly his mos civil conversation with the headmaster. Harry wouldn't actually mind talking to him again if that was how the discussions turned out, during the talk neither of them had been headmaster or student, neither had been an old man or a young boy, neither of them had been famous or inconsequential, they had spoken like equals even if they were almost opposites. He didn't know when it had happened but at some point they'd actually started calling each other Harry and Albus, something Harry had never envisioned himself ever doing.

Getting his mind back on track, Harry considered Dumbledore's offer for them to join him at Hogwarts over winter break. He knew that Euryale and Stheno would accept, his sisters and he were rather close after all, and Zelretch would not be able to resist causing at least a little chaos. Harry stopped in his tracks, note to self: Be especially wary if Zelretch ever meets the Weasley twins.

Waver had his classes but they became fewer and further between during holidays, magi might not celebrate them as such but they certainly liked throwing _social_ parties and the like. If Altrouge was given the offer then she would probably join them as well, Arcueid too.

Harry wondered if Aoko would be around to join them, she was the most well-adjusted and normal adult he knew, which really says something about the people he associated with, and he liked to think that she would like to join them.

So, if everyone he mentioned joined them, that would be Zelretch, Stheno, Euryale, Waver, Altrouge, Arcueid and Aoko. Seven people all told, he would include the Heroic Spirits and Len as well but he wasn't about to reveal his entire hand yet. There was also the fact that Len spent the vast majority of her time as a cat anyway and Liz and Fran didn't care about the general Hogwarts population.

Harry decided that he would pop over to the Clock Tower that night and see what everyone thought about it, no point making plans if one or more of them were unavailable. Nevertheless, Harry was curious about the school's guest quarters and wondered if they would be in the same rooms they were at the end of his last academic year.

Making a decision to check them out later, Harry headed off towards the lake-side harbour, that was where Hogwarts was telling him that Neville and Hermione could be found.

xxxxx

"Are you going tonight?" Hermione asked the two males with her, one of whom was cutting up ingredients and the other was somehow talking to a squid via morse code, she avoided looking that way as the sight made her want to tear her hair out in frustration and confusion.

"I will be," Neville answered her. "What about you, Harry?" Neville turned to look at the boy who even now had his legs in the cold lake water, he had no problem with what Harry was doing with the squid as long as it kept its distance from him, he may be far more confident than he ever used to be but large creatures still unnerved him somewhat.

"Hmm?" The blindfolded pre-teen looked up. "What are you saying?" He had been focused on what the kraken had been tapping out for him, he thought she was trying to tell a joke.

"There's a duelling club on tonight. Seeing as it's the last day before the holidays, everyone leaves for home tomorrow, they thought that they might get people interested in it so they can plan something for January and onwards. It's been on the notice-boards for a while now, how can you not know?" Hermione looked askance at him.

Harry just shrugged. "I suppose I might as well. Do either of you know who is going to be over-seeing the club?"

Neville frowned. "Flitwick is a former duelling champion, it was what he did before he became a professor. Professor Dumbledore is also a renowned duellist, he always seems a bit too busy though. I heard that Snape once won a few local tournaments but I doubt he'd actually do it, the older years say he's eased up on how bad he used to be but he's not exactly nice. I think that Professor Babbling has an order of merlin though, I think she got it during the last war so maybe she's the one hosting it."

Harry kept silent, he had a feeling that none of them were the ones doing this. He also had a feeling that this club wouldn't be as successful nor as useful as Hermione and Neville thought it would, he hoped he was wrong though.

"Alright, I give!" Hermione cried out suddenly. "What the heck is up with you and that squid!" Harry had been wondering when she'd finally crack, she hated not knowing things and only his initial friendship with her stopped her demanding answers from him, She did ask him questions but, with a fair amount of forceful refusals, she had learned to curb that part of her nature a little.

None of this mattered right now though as Harry saw a perfect opportunity to irritate her and do it without refusing her an answer. A smirk appeared on his face as he calmly asked her. "What squid?"

Hermione just stopped and blinked at him, Neville also looked over at him as he stopped cutting the ingredients. They both knew that Harry didn't lie, he might refuse to answer but he never lied, so they were both confused at that question as Harry continued to stroke the tentacle next to him.

"The squid whose tentacle you are currently stroking, the squid that you've been teaching morse code and sign language, that squid." Hermione said in a flat voice, Harry's smirk merely grew larger at this.

"I am not stroking the tentacle of a squid. I haven't been teaching any squid anything, least of all morse code and sign language." Harry replied, he was rather enjoying this, who knew that watching someone develop a twitch above their eye could bring such amusement.

The sound of banging could be heard echoing throughout the harbour as Hermione repeatedly slammed her head against a nearby post, it was so difficult to be her sometimes.

xxxxx

"So this is more like a taster session than an actual lesson, right?" Harry asked as he followed the two of them to the Great Hall where the duelling club was apparently going to be held.

"What's a taster session?" Neville asked.

"It's a one off event to see whether or not you'd like something. It's fairly common in the muggle world, colleges and universities also have open days and other things as well." Hermione explained to the confused pureblood before turning to Harry. "Yes, I guess it is a taster session seeing how today is the last day of term before the holidays."

It was eight o'clock, rather late for a club to be on in Harry's opinion, and it was easy to see that a fair number of people were interested in the club as a large number of students all headed in the same direction. Harry actually thought that most of the school was in attendance, he supposed that learning to fight was seen as far more flashy and 'heroic' than it actually was. Harry knew that fighting was nothing like books and movies portrayed it, there was little honour or glory, no chivalry or compassion and anything that stood out made itself a target.

Harry's clothing didn't stand out, his armour and what lay beneath it was matte black, but his hair did stand out and there was nothing that Harry could do about that so he used it to his advantage. While an opponent was mesmerised by his prehensile hair dancing around him, he would slip a blade between their ribs, an arrow or spell would be just as effective.

Harry looked around as he entered the Great Hall, the four house tables had disappeared and a golden stage was up against one wall. The room was filled with floating candles that lit the room and caused what few shadows were visible to dance wildly, the ceiling was velvety black and few stars could yet be seen with human eyes, Harry's reinforced eyes were another matter though.

One thing that did catch his attention was that several professors were in attendance, not on the stage though which probably meant they were here to observe. There was professor Dumbledore, who nodded at Harry when he noticed the young hybrid's attention, professor Flitwick, who looked rather excited by everything, professor Babbling, whose eyes flickered all over the room and took note of everyone there, and professors Mcgonagall and Sprout, that made three of the four heads of house, the headmaster and the Ancient Runes professors.

Harry listened to Neville and Hermione discuss who was going to teach them with those nearby, Flitwick's name came up often as did Dumbledore's, but Harry's reinforced eyes had already seen who was standing in the shadows waiting for the opportune moment to make an entrance. Harry wondered if it was too late to sneak out, this thought came at the same time that the Great Hall doors closed and the candles flared brighter.

Resplendent in robes of deep plum, Lockhart walked out onto the stage with a wide smile plastered on his face. At the man's side wearing the usual black was professor Snape, he was shouting looks of death at the fop that made Harry wonder whether Snape would like to borrow Harry's eyes.

Lockhart waved an arm for silence, and except for a few squealing fangirls he got it, as he gave an elaborate and expansive gesture that encompassed everyone in the hall. "Come, come. I don't bite. It's best if you can all hear me, can you? Good. Can you all see me? Also good."

"Now, I have been given permission to start this little club by our very own headmaster. It is to train you up in case you ever need to defend yourself as I myself have done on numerous occasions, my published works can give you all the details." Lockhart beamed at them all, it amazed Harry that he could show every single one of those pristine teeth even when he was speaking.

"Let me introduce you to my assistant, professor Snape, your very own potions professor." Lockhart flashed them another blinding smile. "He tells me that he knows a little bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry, you'll still have your Potions professor when I'm through with him. Don't worry about that." Harry thought that the smarmy git was being a bit condescending but the girls in the hall were all eating it up.

Harry heard a murmur from some of the Gryffindors and reinforcing his ears allowed him to hear Weasel wishing that the two of them would wipe each other out. Harry wondered if Snape had heard too, his lips had curled upwards into a quite menacing sneer. He wondered how Lockhart could stand there and be so calm, he would have thought that the fop would be running to the hills if he caught such an expression directed at him.

Lockhart and Snape turned to face one another and bowed; Well Lockhart bowed at least, with much twirling of his wand and unnecessary, wasteful movements. Snape simply gave a small jerk of his head before he too raised his wand. Lockhart had to, of course, provide commentary.

"As you can see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position." Blondie told the silent crowd. "On the count of three we will cast our first spells, neither of us will be aiming to kill each other though."

Harry wasn't too sure of the last part, Snape looked like he would enjoy nothing more than scattering Lockhart's entrails around the place. Harry completely understood the sentiment, he wanted to do it too.

The blonde counted up from one to three and both of them swung their wands up and over their shoulders. Snape cried "Expelliarmus!" and there was a flash of scarlet light that shot from his wand and right into Lockhart's chest. The blonde was lifted from his feet and hurled backwards off the stage, smashing into the wall before sliding down to land in a heap.

Some of the Slytherins cheered and Harry was tempted to join them. Hermione on the other hand was dancing on her tiptoes to get a look at Lockhart to see whether he was all right, Harry thought that if a disarming charm could incapacitate him then he didn't really deserve the title of wizard, the charm had been stronger than he expected though, perhaps Snape had simply overpowered it.

Lockhart climbed unsteadily to his feet, his hat had fallen off and his hair was a mess. "Well there you have it!" He said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was the disarming charm. As you can probably see, I've lost my wand. Ah, thank you miss Brown." Lavender had handed Lockhart's wand back to him, love hearts in her eyes. "An excellent idea to show them that, professor Snape, but if you don't mind me saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy. However I believed it would be instructive to let them see..."

Lockhart trailed off as he caught sight of the murderous look Snape had directed at him, it seemed that blondie did have some survival instincts after all for he quickly called an end to the demonstration and told them to get practising. He and professor Snape began to move about the students, matching them up to partners.

Lockhart teamed Neville with Weasel but Snape reached himself and Hermione before blondie did, something he was rather thankful for. "Hmm, you'd probably soften your blows for each other so let's mix things up a little. Miss Granger partner with Miss Bulstrode and Mr Potter, let's see what you and Mr. Malfoy make of each other."

Malfoy strutted over smirking, he obviously thought that professor Snape wanted him to take Potter down a peg or two but Harry saw the amusement hidden in the man's eyes and simply sighed at the grandstanding ferret. Hermione's partner had rather heavy features and a fair amount of muscle, she looked more like a warrior than a lady of the court and Harry wondered where she had gained those impressive biceps.

Lockhart was back up on the platform and smiling out at the now partnered up crowd. "Face your partners and bow!" Harry only lowered his head a little, he was not going to give respect to one who had yet to earn it.

"Wands at the ready!" Lockhart shouted out. "When I count to three cast your charms to disarm your opponent. I want you to _disarm_ only, we don't want any accidents now. One. Two. Three!"

Malfoy had already started at two but Harry simply side-stepped the orange spell he'd sent at him, whatever it was wasn't a disarming charm, and whispered the disarming charm at his opponent. Malfoy's wand flew through the air from which it was plucked by Harry.

"I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouted ineffectually. It seemed that Ferret wasn't the only one who had gone for a different spell. To be fair to the students, they hadn't been taught the spell, merely given a single demonstration and no opportunity to practice. Looking around the room while keeping one on Ferret, Harry saw the extent to which the lesson had degenerated.

It looked like several of the younger years had chosen to fight with their fists, some of the older students had gotten a few spells off at each other and were now trying to undo what had happened, some of them had successfully cast the charm and were now waiting for everything to settle down, most though had decided that this club was a good opportunity to get 'revenge' for one reason or another and were hexing those they didn't like.

"Stop! Stop!" Lockhart called out, still as ineffectual as before.

"Finite Incantatem!" Snape called and the spell spread outwards from him. A greenish haze of smoke hovered above the students as the spells lost effect and everything turned to normal. Some of the students were glaring at those that had cursed them, said guilty parties were trying to look innocent and failing, several of the fist fighters had grudgingly stopped but several, Millicent Bulstrode was one of them, kept going.

It took a little while before everything was put to rights, the greenish haze dissipated and small cuts and bruises healed, but eventually everyone was looking back at the stage upon which Snape and Lockhart stood. Harry had handed Ferret's wand back to him but the blonde Slytherin had merely glared at him and snatched it out of his hand.

"Deary me!" Lockhart said. "I think it would be a good idea to teach you how to block unfriendly spells." He looked around the room and Harry groaned internally as Lockhart's eyes alighted on him. "Let's have a volunteer pair, shall we? How about Mr. Potter and whoever he was paired with." Malfoy's eyes lit up with this second chance to prove himself, Harry simply shrugged, and the pair of them made their way up to the platform.

Lockhart rushed to Harry's side and Snape walked over to Malfoy's. Harry so wished it was the other way around, he'd much prefer to have Snape give him his version of a 'pep talk' than Lockhart's 'advice'.

"Now Harry." Harry decided to at least look as if he was paying attention to blondie even if his eyes were focused on his soon-to-be opponent. "When Draco points his wand at you, you do this."

Lockhart raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action and dropped it. Snape smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up saying "Whoops, my wand is a little over-excited." Harry just looked at him, was that bit of innuendo intentional? It certainly distracted him from what he was thinking, was that the point of it?

Snape moved closer to Malfoy, bent down and whispered something in his ear, Malfoy smirked at it. What Ferret was unaware of was that Harry's reinforced ears had picked up on what Snape had whispered, a quick list of spells that he could use to avoid embarrassment.

Harry moved away from Lockhart when he went to give him a pat on the back, that infernal grin still stuck to his face. He and Ferret approached the divide that separated one side of the platform from the other, they had to take their positions after all.

"Scared?" muttered Malfoy when they were close enough to converse without others hearing what they were saying, he seemed to think that he could win. Perhaps the Ferret was memory impaired, it would explain how he forgot the absolute victory Harry had gotten over him last year at least.

Harry snorted quietly. "You wish. I, personally, am surprised you didn't run to daddy and have him stand in for you. That's what you would usually do, isn't it?" The reddening of Malfoy's face told Harry that he'd won this verbal spar, not that I was any competition.

"Just do what I did, Harry!" Lockhart called out cheerily. Harry really wouldn't, what use was dropping his wand? It would be even worse for an ordinary wizard to do so because most knew little to nothing about wandless magic.

"Three. Two. One. Go!" He shouted.

Harry was curious what Malfoy would do, he hadn't expected this though. Ferret raised his wand and bellowed "Serpensortia!" which caused a four and a half metre long Black Mamba to erupt from the end of his wand. Now, the Black Mamba wasn't named for the colour of its scales, which in this case was a gunmetal grey, but for the colour of its mouth. The Black Mamba is also a decidedly venomous snake and without rapid and vigorous anti-venom therapy, a bite is almost always fatal. There is also the interesting fact that it is also the fastest snake in the muggle world and has a reputation for being aggressive.

Harry was rather curious about the snake but was disappointed when he analysed it. While it did have the exact same biology as the real thing, it was simply a construct and not something more interesting. A simple finite would get rid of it but, before Harry half-heartedly dispelled it, Lockhart intervened.

"Ah, that's not good. Let me get rid of it for you!" the blonde fop said, the professor and not the Slytherin, as he pointed his wand at the conjured snake. A bang issued from the wand and the animal was thrown ten feet to the side and hit the floor with a solid smack, right in front of Justin Finch-Fletchely. The snake reared back to strike and Harry knew that none of the wizards would be fast enough to stop it, he himself couldn't speak fast enough to cast the appropriate spell and knew he had to act.

A scream issued from Justin's throat but it was almost immediately cut short. Where before there had been a snake not two foot away prepared to strike, his vision was now filled with the colours black and purple. Everyone in the hall blinked, somehow Harry Potter had gone from where he was stood on the stage, perhaps five metres away, to right in front of his fellow Hufflepuff in an instant. He had obviously moved, at great speed, if his hair that had trailed behind him was any indication but no one had seen him do it, the best they had gotten was a black and purple blur.

"Is someone going to take care of this construct or what?" Harry said as he lifted his wand arm which now had a snake, with its jaws clamped onto it, hanging there and pumping him full of its venom.

Snape muttered the incantation and waved his wand over the snake, vanishing it, before he waved his wand over Harry's arm and reared back in surprise. "I advise you to go to the hospital wing now, Mr. Potter. You've just been injected with enough venom to kill forty grown men!" There was sounds of disbelief throughout the hall, Lockhart's complexion paled and a number of people looked concerned.

Harry just chuckled. "I'm fine professor, that sort of thing won't disadvantage me any." Snape raised one eyebrow and Harry could see the curiosity in his beetle black eyes, Snape didn't know about his Gorgon heritage after all.

"I think that's a good idea anyway, this club is over for the night regardless." Lockhart said, he was still pale. Harry supposed that having a famous person, like Harry was, die or be injured in a club that he was overseeing wouldn't be good for his public image.

Surprisingly, it was Dumbledore's voice that rang out over the crowd. "Such a shame, I had been looking forward to seeing some more example duels. It has been such a long time since I have faced anyone in anything other than politics that I could probably do with a refresher myself. I find that many simply do not wish to accept my challenges these days."

Harry looked over at the headmaster and couldn't help a broad smile appearing on his face. He had trained for many years with Bazett, and others before her, so he could be something of a battle nut when the mood took him and he so enjoyed a challenge.

"If it's an opponent you're looking for headmaster then I would be happy to oblige." The entire hall froze and Harry's statement and the crowd looked between Dumbledore and Harry, the former's eyes going into overdrive with their twinkling.

"Really Harry? You would face me on the duelling strip?" Harry had recently gotten a little respect for the man and his grin only grew, he was now itching to face the aged headmaster in a battle of magic.

"I will admit that the duelling strip is a bit narrow for my preferences but, either way, I am fully willing to go against your wand sir." He was now raring to go, the venom coursing through his body acting like a surge of adrenaline.

"Then let me fix that for you." The headmaster said as he pointed his wand at the golden platform. It became wider, almost square, and the dividing line in the middle disappeared. "Something a little less formal and more practical should serve as a good demonstration, should it not?"

The crowd now had wide eyes as they realised that Albus Dumbledore, the leader of the light and so many other things, was going to get into a little magical sparing session with Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived. Bets were rapidly exchanged with odds highly in favour of the aged headmaster, after all Harry was a second year student so what could he do?

The two combatants climbed up either side of the now enlarged platform which everyone else clustered around and Bowed to each other. Dumbledore settled into a traditional duelling stance, sideways on with his feet just past shoulder width apart and his wand pointed directly at harry like a rapier. Harry settled into a stance he was comfortable in, feet wide apart with his left hand on the floor and knees bent, his hair pooled around him as he looked forward at the headmaster.

"How about we start off slow and gentle? I need to get these old bones back into rhythm before we really let loose with anything fancy, eh?" Dumbledore said to which harry replied with a feral grin and a quick nod.

The two stayed in place for a while, neither one of them casting a spell, until with a flurry things began. A mild stinging hex from Dumbledore headed in Harry's direction but he lazily avoided it as he sent a colour change charm at Dumbledore. The headmaster's robes turned from their vibrant colours to a uniform black.

Pouting at this, the old man charmed his robes to flash a multitude of colours before sending a spell at Harry that made his hair to puff up into, what some would say was, a marvellous afro. Harry's prehensile hair soon sorted that out though and the two of them soon began to pick up the pace a bit, the spells never getting very dangerous or powerful. There were stinging hexes, knock-back jinxes, tickling charms and other easy to learn spells flying from one to the other, neither of them getting many hits in but neither of them trying particularly hard to avoid getting hit.

At some signal that only the two of them had apparently noticed, the duel stepped up a notch. They were now utilising spells that fourth year and below students would use, a few higher level curses sneaking in there now and then.

A stunning spell from Harry whizzed past Dumbledore's head who barely paid it any attention as he cast the disarming charm back at the hybrid boy. The younger combatant replied with a quick three hexes aimed at Dumbledore and just to either side of him, a disarming charm, a stunning spell and a tripping jinx, nothing particularly major. Dumbledore ducked under the middle one, the stunning spell, and quickly shielded from a follow up spell that had been cast near the floor.

Although not the sort of thing to write home about, the duel was already far more impressive than what Snape and Lockhart had shown them initially. What was even more entertaining was that the two of them were exchanging banter as they cast spells at each other.

"Looking forward to the holidays are you Harry?" Dumbledore asked as he shielded against a cutting curse at waist height whilst ducking over a bludgeoning hex at head height that would have knocked a few teeth out.

"Certainly sir. I am giving the question you asked the other day a lot of thought, I think that we may actually accept your offer." Harry replied as he side-stepped a silently cast yellow spell and hopped over a purple one, he cast a silencing spell and a cutting curse back at the headmaster.

"Really? Well let me know what the decision is as soon as possible then, it would make it easier to prepare the further ahead I know your answer." Dumbledore said as he shielded against an incendio that Harry had cast at him and sent a silver spell back.

The crowd really didn't know what to make of it, it was obvious that neither one of them was really giving it their all but it was still quite interesting to watch. A few people were surprised by Harry's repertoire of spells, he'd obviously been reading ahead.

"Shall we kick it up a notch Albus?" Harry asked and the students were left with their jaws on the floor, none of them would have dared call the headmaster by his first name.

The old man in question merely chuckled as he avoided two more of Harry's spells and sent three back. "I think that we should, it's obvious that neither of us are being challenged like this."

There was a sudden explosion of action on stage. Dumbledore's rate of spell casting increased more than three times over and Harry began to move at much greater speeds whilst casting his spells just as accurately as before.

"Bombarda! Reducto! Diffindo! Confringo! Diffindo! Stupefy!" Harry called out in rapid succession and the floor in front of Dumbledore was hit with several different blasting spells that raised shrapnel and dust in front of him. The two cutting curses sliced through it as if it wasn't there and the stunning spell disappeared into the smoke as well.

Dumbledore was obviously not out for the count as spells came back through the rubble, a little less accurate than before but not by any noticeable amount, and Harry found himself performing several feats of acrobatics as he avoided them all.

Banishing the dust and debris in Dumbledore's direction, Harry gave a mental command to Liz and Fran to stand at either end of the platform and warn him if he missed something. Making use of his Heroic Spirits might be a little unsporting but in a fight anything goes, an advantage is an advantage after all.

Dumbledore had not been idle and when he could see properly again, he transfigured some of the debris Harry had caused into lions and, for some reason, several velociraptors. Harry decided to take a page out of the headmaster's book and began transfiguring some of the debris into birds and putting compulsion charms on them, he then went a step further and disillusioned them.

It was quite a sight for the spectators to see several of Dumbledore's spells collide with the invisible birds mid-air causing them to become visible and plummet to the ground. Harry had yet to deal with Dumbledore's transfigurations though and had constantly avoided them, sometimes slipping between two of them by a hair's breadth or leaning back so far that he had to flip back onto his feet.

These feats of acrobatics let harry become a little lost amongst Dumbledore's own creation, it was even worse when he started casting colour change charms on them so they became a mess of vibrant dinosaurs and big cats. That and Harry's disillusioned birds allowed Harry a reprieve from Dumbledore's spell casting as even he found it difficult to distinguish him amongst the eye-watering display of colours, he now knew what people saw when he wore his vividly coloured robes.

Whilst hidden amongst all of the transfigured animals, Harry whispered the disillusionment charm and tapped himself over the head as he ducked and dived amongst the predators. Following that up with a charm to silence his footsteps and erase his scent, the animals became even more confused about what they were supposed to be attacking and turned on each other.

Watching the visceral horror, the students were distracted from the invisibly sneaking Harry Potter. The only ones that noticed him were Flitwick, Babbling, Snape and Dumbledore himself. Casting the counter to the disillusionment charm, Dumbledore forced Harry to become visible once again and he began to bombard the young boy with a hail of spells.

Deciding that since Dumbledore had the advantage of experience as far as Wizardcraft went, he'd be better of utilising some Magecraft. Harry reinforced his limbs and began to move at beyond human speeds as he avoided each and every spell cast at him.

A smirk appeared on Harry's face as he retaliated with another string of spells. "Expelliarmus! Stupefy! Incarcerous! Diffindo! Flipendo! Reducto!" He called out. Dumbledore dodged some and blocked others.

It was easy to see how the two had their own separate styles of duelling and magical combat. Dumbledore used powerful spells and mass transfiguration while he shielded himself from the majority of his opponents attacks, occasionally dodging one or two of them. Harry however was all about speed, he had yet to cast a single shield spell and had received few, if any, hits since the two had decided to take this duel seriously. Dumbledore's stance was traditional and balanced whereas Harry's presented a smaller target and allowed him to dart about the place unpredictably, if he didn't have control of his hair then he would probably have been tangled up in it by now.

A chuckle came from harry that surprised many, he smirked at Dumbledore and enunciated one word clearly. "Hagalaz."

Dumbledore blinked before leaping backwards with a surprising amount of speed for one of his age. It was a good decision as Harry's plan became more obvious. The three cutting curses he'd cast so far had been a little less accurate than his other spells, or that's what people thought when he'd cast them. The three cutting curses had etched the vaguely H shaped rune on the floor beneath where Dumbledore had stood not a moment before.

When he'd called on the rune of disruption, an ice element rune, the temperature had plummeted and ice crystals had almost instantly formed there, it was rather beautiful. The result of those actions, if Dumbledore had remained in place, would have ended the duel with the headmaster encased in the frozen crystal.

Harry pouted but didn't have time for more as Dumbledore blasted the ice into fragments and began to transfigure the shards en mass. Where a weaker witch or wizard would perhaps be able tot transfigure maybe two or three objects at once depending on their complexity, Dumbledore was a master of transfiguration and soon had a horde of pink velociraptors charging at Harry.

Realising that the same trick wouldn't work twice, Dumbledore had probably made them that colour on purpose and somehow prevented colour change charms from working, Harry decided to once again utilise his Magecraft to gain an edge. Projecting eight blades in the air around himself, Harry proved that his long hair had practical applications as it separated into eight tentacle-like arrangements and wrapped around the hilts of the blades.

Deciding to up the ante to the maximum, Harry began to chant his aria as well. This wasn't as easy as it could otherwise have been, dispatching pink velociraptors left, right and centre, sometimes having to rely on what one of his Servants saw as they crept up behind him, dodging the spells that Dumbledore was sending his way as he continued to replenish his velociraptors that were lost to Harry's blades and focusing on his aria was taking up whatever attention harry had to spare.

"**My soul is a weapon"** Dumbledore seemed to recognise the start of the aria that had summoned those magic orbs in his duel against Malfoy last year and redoubled his efforts against him. **"Disregard magic and drain my foe"**. This was something that Harry had been working on recently and he hoped it worked like he wanted it to.

The orbs began to appear, at least the outline of them did. The orbs couldn't really be seen this time except as a slight distortion in the air rather than the ghostly blue they had been in his duel with Ferret or the crackling flames he'd also used before.

Harry launched the orbs at Dumbledore en mass, he wasn't being subtle this time, and the headmaster conjured up a thick solid wall to take the attack for him. Harry grinned, that wouldn't help him if he'd done this right. People watched, waiting for when the orbs impacted against Dumbledore's shield but they were in for a surprise, the orbs passed right through it without even slowing.

They expected their to be some kind of physical effect when they impacted the headmaster but they were again disappointed as there seemed to be nothing again, the headmaster had worked it out though and he was mightily impressed. Stumbling slightly, the strain of all the magic getting to him, Dumbledore could no longer replenish his force of pink velociraptors that were rapidly cut down by the blades held in Harry's prehensile hair.

One last disarming charm aimed at Dumbledore ended the duel and Harry collapsed back onto the mountain of colourful corpses, that had been an exhausting experience. He examined the wand he held in his hand, it seemed old, far older than the headmaster and Harry didn't think that it was the wand he'd gotten as a child. It didn't matter, it could very well be a trophy of battle he'd gotten used to, perhaps his original wand had been destroyed.

Harry got to his feet after a moment and walked over to the headmaster holding out his hand. The older of the two combatants chuckled wearily and accepted, pulling himself to his feet. "That was an impressive spell you used at the end. It completely ignored all physical objects and merely interacted with magical ones, draining them of their energy before dissipating. A physical shield was useless wasn't it?"

Harry nodded. "Yep, a simple protego would have stopped it dead though. I noticed that when we stepped things up that you preferred more physical magic, the conjurations, the transfigurations and the like. All of your shields from then on had been composed of conjured stone, they can take a lot of battering from magical attacks before breaking and can even stop a single killing curse but my spell ignored physical shields, that rendered them useless."

Harry helped the headmaster out of the hall and up to the infirmary. He'd hit the headmaster with perhaps a few too many of those orbs, he was on the verge of magical exhaustion. Harry had been exhilarated by that fight, he had no doubt that the headmaster hadn't used his full range of abilities and if he'd been more prepared then he might have won but it was a good fight regardless.

Getting up to the infirmary was the first step of the dreaded task to come, the next was facing Pomfrey's scolding. The matron may be a motherly looking woman but she was an absolute menace to her patients, you didn't disobey her instructions if you wished to avoid a telling off, something that she had down to an art form.

"Oh? Can someone tell me why I have the headmaster and a second year student supporting each other up to the hospital wing?" Pomfrey's voice cut into Harry's thoughts. Harry and Dumbledore looked at each other before the headmaster gave an innocent look that had the healer concentrating on Harry.

"Traitor." Harry muttered at him before looking at the medi-witch. "Lockhart had a little duelling club going on and me and the headmaster kind of got into a little duel, he's on the verge of magical exhaustion so I brought him up here for you to tend to." Harry gave Dumbledore to her before turning to sneak away.

"Oh no you don't!" The healer said before hitting Harry with a petrificus totalus. "I can see that bite on your arm, where did you get it?" She demanded of him.

"Well, you see, Draco Malfoy conjured a Black Mamba snake that went out of control and almost bit Justin Finch-Fletchley but I got in the way." He said in an innocent voice, she knew of his Gorgon nature and his near immunity to snake venom. A Black Mamba's venom would be nothing to him, it would take a Basilisk's venom to cause him pain.

"Very well then, I suppose you can go if that is the extent of it." Harry sighed in relief as she released the full body bind on him. He was about to leave once more when he realised that he still had Dumbledore's wand in his hand, it felt comfortable there. It wasn't the same as his own wand but Harry thought that if he had to cast with any wand that originated in this world then this would be it.

"Here you are professor." He said as he wandered over to were Dumbledore was getting dosed up with pepper-up potion. "Don't want me running off with your wand now, do you?" Harry could see the curiosity glimmering in the old man's eyes, while his immunity to Veritaserum and his resistance to various potions would be in his medical file, his Gorgon heritage and, consequently, his ridiculously high resistance to poisons, snake venom in particular, wouldn't be there.

"Ah, Harry." Dumbledore said. Harry looked up at him with his head tilted to one side. "I've just recalled, did we just leave the Great Hall without dismissing everyone?"

Harry blinked behind his blindfold for a moment before laughing, his amusement echoed throughout the castle as he imagined everyone still standing there, his duel with the headmaster had been a little extravagant after all.

xxxxx

Harry didn't return to the Great hall but if he had then he would have found that, yes, everyone was still standing there in shock. They had just seen a second year student take on the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore himself, and win. There was a number of people doing an impression of a gaping fish, they had expected the headmaster to play with the boy for a while before taking him out but that wasn't what had happened at all.

The devastation that lay before them was proof of that. The golden platform that the two of them had fought on was now littered with craters and even a few remnants of Harry's giant icicle. There was a mound of pink velociraptors that no one had vanished yet and a few scattered corpses from the other victims of the duel Harry's transfigured birds, the other coloured velociraptors and the lions.

The air was still cold from Harry's rather large Hagalaz rune, there was still power in it and people could see their breath misting in the air before them. A few sharp bits of debris were stuck upright in the floor, the ones that either combatant had banished at the other with a fair amount of force.

The entire duel, once the two of them had gotten serious, had been beyond what any student had expected and even the staff were surprised. Flitwick looked as if Christmas tomorrow and not a few weeks away, if he taught Harry just a few more spells then he may be eligible for the international duelling circuit. It was unheard of for a competitor to join it so young, the current record holder had been a German sixteen year old who had made it to the quarter-finals but Harry may just break that record if he joined up this summer. The final was always on the the last Friday of July, that would be the day before Harry's thirteenth birthday, and that would be the kind of accomplishment that Britain hadn't held for a century and a half!

Mcgonagall had looked on in wonder at what Harry had accomplished with what he'd learned. The only real transfiguration he'd used was to turn objects into birds with the Avifors spell but he'd certainly used the spell to great effect, if he knew a few more inanimate to animate transfigurations then he would be an exceptionally difficult opponent to take down, even more so than he already was. She shuddered at the thought of all that power and talent in a twelve year old and then frowned, Confringo was the fire-based blasting charm whereas Bombarda was the pressure-based one. The latter was taught in fifth year and the former wasn't taught at all, it was in fact in a book in the restricted section. Mcgonagall wondered if Harry Potter had taken his fathers penchant for breaking rules and curfew and applied it somewhere other than pranks.

Snape could definitely say that he was surprised at the display he'd just been witness to, it had been a phenomenal display of magic, especially for one so young. Not many could say that they could beat Albus Dumbledore even if he had been holding back, if it became a wore of attrition then Snape thought that Harry may have more endurance than Albus but to actually cause magical exhaustion was a definite surprise. There was another thing that had Snape curious though, how Harry had actually stayed alive for the duration of the duel. There had been a little over four hundred milligrams of venom in Harry's system when he'd performed the scan and a Black Mamba only needed between ten and fifteen milligrams of venom to kill an adult human, Harry hadn't even seemed to notice it though. It was as if the venom meant absolutely nothing to the boy, it had no effect when he should have been dead within half an hour! Snape respected people's privacy, it would be hypocritical of him not to, but he was undeniably curious about it anyway.

Bathsheda Babbling was rather impressed as well, his inclusion of a rune during combat was certainly something she'd never seen before, and she was looking forward to what subjects he'd choose for his electives at the end of the year. She remembered the rune arrays that she'd seen last year on his clothing and wondered if she might be able to put him on a different path from the regular students. Seventh year students had to make pentagonal and hexagonal runic arrays for their NEWT exams which Harry had already done prior to his first year, ones more complex than her seventh years did, and she knew that the course would bore him. It was something to think about if nothing else.

Lockhart had been gob-smacked at the level of talent that the second year had shown, it was extraordinary. Never one to let an opportunity pass him by, Lockhart resolved to make an even greater effort to get in close with Harry Potter. He was the boy-who-lived to begin with but he had just displayed a level of skill and power that would cement him in a top spot wherever he went, if Lockhart could get an in with him then it opened up all sorts of possibilities. The blonde conveniently forgot just how low Harry Potter's opinion of him was as well as the fact that he had made it clear he wanted nothing to do with him, you had to admire his tenacity if nothing else.

It wasn't until almost ten minutes had passed after the headmaster and the boy-who-lived had left that everyone managed to pull themselves together long enough for Lockhart to dismiss them. Blondie also left them with a verbal invitation to the duelling club proper when it started up after the holidays. If he could get harry and Dumbledore back on that stage them there was sure to be a massive turnout. He left before someone tried to get him to clear up the large mess said duellists had left behind, the house-elves would enjoy the work at least.

xxxxx

It was early the next morning and Harry, not needing much sleep due to his Occlumency, was wandering the castle under as powerful a disillusionment charm as he could cast. He was trying to think about what he'd found in his mind.

Since Lady Hogwarts had taken up residence within his head, Harry had avoided going to his mindscape because didn't really want to know what sort of effect she'd had on it. He didn't want to get used to something new then have to forget about it if and when they managed to separate, he thought staying out of there had been the best option.

There had been something niggling at him though, something to do with Dumbledore's wand. It had seemed somewhat familiar to him though he knew that no wand in Ollivander's shop had reacted to him, it was something he had been thinking about ever since he'd gotten to his room and it refused to leave him alone even now.

On entering his mind hesitantly, he was curious what kind of effect that Lady Hogwarts had had on his mind scape, he had found that there had only been seemingly superficial changes. The ruins that housed his stored knowledge now looked to resemble Hogwarts somewhat, there was a throne-like chair of obsidian too where Lady Hogwarts liked to sit, and the lake of blood that represented his memories was larger, there were also ripples as if something lay beneath the surface, but that was pretty much it.

He had wandered the forested areas of his mind for quite some time before he had come across one last thing. It looked like a boulder that had been cut in half, one flat surface on the entire thing. It was about two metres in diameter and he wasn't going to try and find how heavy it was.

On the flat side of the boulder had been a symbol of some kind. It was a triangle that had been bisected by a single line right down the middle, Harry knew that this was what had made the wand feel familiar to him but what it represented, he didn't know. Regardless of that though, it felt incomplete. It felt as though there should be more to it, something that would complete the set. He didn't know where that last thought came from but it felt right, as if there was some object that would provide the last piece of the puzzle and reveal itself to him.

Harry was brought out of his musing as he stubbed his toe on something. Looking down at whatever it was, harry sighed. This really couldn't be happening, if people knew he was here then he would definitely get the blame with or without evidence, that was the sheeple way.

Palming his face, Harry made to walk further along the corridor and almost bumped into something else. Well, this was more unique than the one on the floor at least. Harry made a mental note to warn Helena that not even ghosts could remain unaffected by this.

'Gods Dammit!' Harry thought, if people knew that he could touch ghosts then they would extrapolate from there and believe it was even more proof of his culpability even if it proved nothing.

A nearby door handle rattled and, even though he was disillusioned, Harry stepped backwards and settled into the shadows. The rattling door was soon proven to be an act of Peeves as said poltergeist zoomed through it cackling madly. Peeves stopped in front of the two figures that Harry had just been examining and let out an ear piercing shout.

"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Peeves shouted for all to hear before rushing off to other parts of the castle to spread the message.

'Well this will probably make for a quiet Christmas this year' Harry thought as he looked at the two figures in front of him, a petrified Nearly-Headless Nick and Justin Finch-Fletchely. 'I wonder how they're going to blame this one on me this time'.

Harry ignored the noise of students and staff rousing from their beds to investigate Peeve's insistent voice as he made his way towards the headmaster's office, it would be best if he got his little pleading of innocence over and done with as soon as possible.

Harry was about to continue his little mental rant as he found something by his feet. 'Well, well, well, what do we have here?' Harry wondered as he picked up what appeared at first glance to be a diary of some kind. It looked a little old and he wondered who it could belong to. Allowing it to fall open in his hands, Harry froze at the name on the inside cover.

T. M. Riddle.


	27. Everyone Arrives

AN: Not completely happy with this chapter, it's mostly filler. There will be several things happening in the next chapter and probably the one after that, I wonder if anyone can guess some of the things I am planning. Actually, out of curiosity, I'd like to know where people think I'm actually headed with this, things like: What am I going to do with the diary? What am I going to do with the Hallows? What am I going to do with Luna? What am I going to do with the Basilisk? What I'm going to do with Lockhart? What am I going to do with the Servants? Where I'm going with possible romance? Things like what am I going to do with Sirius Black as well? I'd love to know what you think, it would give me some inspiration at least and the more inspiration I have then the more ideas I have to put down and the faster this story grows.

As always my forum can be found on my profile or here forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

Thanks, as always, for reading and reviewing this chapter.

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 27 – Everyone Arrives

Harry decided that he would deal with the diary later, a structural analysis of the thing had raised some rather large, not to mention probably unpleasant, questions. He left the diary in one of the unused rooms in his tower. He did this after layering every bounded field and ward he knew over it and using alchemy to alter the door to said room into stone and fusing it with the walls. He took no chances and did the same to the windows, leaving it a completely sealed space. Hogwarts helped him seal it up even tighter and she awoke two suits of armour and gad them stand guard inside the room.

Some might think these measures excessive but Harry had gotten a far from pleasant sensation from that Diary. His structural analysis had told him that it was alive, it actually had a fragment of a soul within it, and had been nigh indestructible. Well. Indestructible with regular methods, Harry had a number of methods available that would render that point moot.

He had been about to destroy the damn thing before he had an idea. As far as he knew, the idea was completely possible but magic sometimes messed with with the concept of possible and not. He would need a lot of straw though, a fresh monkey corpse as well and a few other things. Zelretch would probably know where he could get those things, he wouldn't even question why he needed it, so all he needed now was a potion. He didn't want to spend a month making a potion that he didn't know if he was actually capable of making yet, that would necessitate Snape's involvement then.

If the soul piece within the diary had heard Harry's laughter right then it probably would have given up all hope, as it were some might say that the pages rustled when there was no wind to move them.

xxxxx

One good thing about the scare earlier that morning was that everyone decided that they just _had _to be out of the castle and a few of those who had planned to stay over winter break climbed on the train as it was leaving. Harry watched the train in the distance with reinforced eyes, he was at the top of the tower that he'd taken over, and, when everyone who was leaving had left, Harry asked Lady Hogwarts who was still in the castle.

He was the only Hufflepuff as it turned out, not that Harry really cared but still. Gryffindor had the Weasleys, Hermione and Neville, the last of those was going to be away for a few days just before Christmas he said. Slytherin had three students left, Ferret and his bookends. The rumour was that Lucius Malfoy was completely renovating and redecorating the mansion for a Yule party and no one but the contractors were in the mansion right now, Lucius and his wife were in a holiday home in the Mediterranean and Draco remained at Hogwarts, of course wherever Draco went so did his muscled henchmen which accounted for the two shaved gorillas. Ravenclaw house also had very few people staying, only two actually, and they were Penelope Clearwater and a first year, Luna Lovegood.

There were also a number of staff members that had taken off for the holidays. Those that remained were Dumbledore himself, professor Snape, professor Flitwick, professor Babbling and professor Trelawney. As he understood it, Dumbledore and Trelawney actually lived at Hogwarts full-time, Flitwick went to watch the duelling circuits every summer and Snape had a house in some muggle area somewhere. Information on Bathsheda Babbling was somewhat scarce.

Harry had got in contact with everyone back at the Clock Tower and pretty much everyone was coming along, Zelretch said he would enjoy sowing a little chaos, Stheno and Euryale said that they would of course come and stay with their little brother, Waver had few lectures to give over the festive season and either Harry or Zelretch would take him back to the Clock Tower for them, Aoko had agreed without fanfare. Altrouge had had to find someone to look after Primate Murder over winter and had conscripted the aid of Strout and Svelten for the task, Arcueid had also left Carla the chimaera with them too.

All in all, it was going to be a very interesting Christmas. Harry had already made more than a dozen bolt-holes for when Zelretch met the Weasley twins, he was sure that would result in utter chaos. Dumbledore had been informed of how many were coming and how many rooms would be needed, a single room for the two Gorgon sisters as they had never been separated, Harry would probably sneak down to their room too come to think of it. A room for Zelretch, one for Waver, one for Aoko and Harry had almost told him to prepare a double room for the Brunestud sisters, he quickly squashed that bout of mischievousness though as they wanted the castle to remain standing.

Harry walked down to the Entrance Hall and looked into the Great Hall to see that his friends and family had already arrived. Seeing as the number of staff and students here, seventeen discounting Trelawney who remained holed up in her tower, and the addition of Harry's seven friends and family made a grand total of twenty-four people in the castle, they had done away with the house tables and there was one, much smaller, table in the middle of the room.

Harry's eardrums almost burst as several females called his name and he was buried beneath a dog-pile of bodies. Harry heard Zelretch chuckling and inclining his head in that direction Harry saw it was too late, Zelretch was already speaking to the Weasley twins whom both wore massive grins. Harry sighed and was about to close his eyes in resignation when he saw Helena was with them too trying to affect an innocent disposition, what was she doing with them and why did a shiver just pass down his spine?

"Nice to see you too, girls. Could you please get of me now?" He asked and soon found that he could breath normally again. Looking at the ones who had piled on top of him, there was Euryale, who bore a wide smile, Stheno, who looked at him with great care and concern, Arcueid, who was her usual ditzy self and Altrouge, who was trying to set her hair straight.

"I think it is safe to say that they missed you too." Zelretch's voice called out to him. "Aside from that, Harry, why didn't you tell me there were such interesting people here?" he asked, indicating the Weasley twins.

"Because with their methods and your madness no one would be safe." Harry replied flatly. "Your pranking tendencies are bad enough when you and Euryale are working together, I dread to think what you and those two redheads would come up with."

Everyone who was from Harry's world, aside from Euryale who was trying to look innocent and Arcueid whose eyes had a spark of mischief in them, looked between Zelretch and the twins. They were the ones who knew how bad Zelretch could be when the mood took him, how would these two pranksters affect him?

"Very well then, let us all settle down." Dumbledore called out from the head of the table. "I'm sure you know everyone here, do you not?" Harry nodded but they introduced themselves anyway. "Now, why don't you introduce our guests Mr. Potter, let us get to know them?"

Harry nodded again, slower this time and more warily, as he introduced all those with him. "Even though we aren't siblings, I call Stheno and Euryale here sister and they call me their little brother. Stheno is the more serious of the two, she's a history teacher, and Euryale here is the one who pulls pranks, the more immature one as it were." Stheno gave Euryale a stern look but she merely pouted at it, the Weasley twins gave her appraising looks though.

"This one, I call Gramps, is Kischur Zelretch Shweinorg. He is really bad when he gets in the mood to play pranks and he has... an acquired sense of humour.." No one missed the mumbled 'an acquired taste that I didn't inherit, thankfully'. "If things suddenly turn weird then he usually gets the blame, I'm not sure whether he deserves it or not when he actually does do something."

"These two are sisters." Harry said as he indicated Altrouge and Arcueid who scowled at each other, they wouldn't do more than that with Harry present. "Despite how things look, Altrouge is actually the elder of the two. Arc makes up for it by acting even more childish than otherwise." Said True Ancestor stuck her tongue out at him.

"This is Aoko Aozaki," Harry said indicating the brunette. "Piss her off and there's not much that'll be left of you." A few people laughed, they didn't realise how serious he was. "Of course, that's quite difficult as she champions the sanctity of life and things like that."

Harry came to Waver, the last of the people to be introduced. "This here is Waver Velvet, he's a teacher. He's good at finding people with high potential and dragging said potential out of them, he's been on my case since day one and there's no one I'd rather be there. He can get a bit grumpy and anti-social so," Harry turned to the Weasley twins. "I'm entrusting you two to keep him entertained."

The evil grins he got back and the murderous one that Waver threw him made Harry glad that he'd diverted attention away from himself, Zelretch was one of the few people who'd be able to get past the defences on his tower rooms and he would rather avoid the fallout that the meeting of prank masters would produce.

xxxxx

During the meal, Harry sat between Aoko and Waver discussing magic and magic theory. Harry had been looking at the spell matrices for several charms and believed that he had something that would work on the black keys that Aoko had given him to work on.

"You see, there are essentially two variables in the banishing charm, the summoning charm and the switching spell. In the summoning charm the initial variable designates yourself while the second variable is the object you are going to summon. The rest of the spell is all about 'dragging' the second variable to the first while avoiding anything in the way. The banishing charm is similar but the variables are almost reversed, the initial variable is the object to be banished and the second is the location you want it to be banished to." Aoko nodded at that, it seemed far more logical than most magic she'd noticed in this world. It was almost like a computer program.

Harry continued. "The switching spell exchanges the location of one thing for another. In essence, the initial and secondary variables don't matter as much as they are going to be switched anyway regardless which is the initial variable and which is the secondary. The problem we have is the distances involved. It doesn't matter how far away an object needs to be summoned from or banished to, all you need is enough power to keep the spell going long enough for it to happen. The switching spell on the other hand is instant and has a range of no more than twenty metres. I've been looking at the spell matrix for all three and I think I can get it to work, I'll need part of the summoning charm, the bit that designates the two variables, and part of the switching spell, the bit that exchanges the objects, to make it work."

Harry leaned back into his chair and thought for a moment. "If I can get the part of the banishing charm that represents a location rather than an object to replace the summoning charms second variable then incorporate the switching spell to make it instant then I think that would solve it. A rune could act as the trigger so that whenever activated, the black key returns to its holster."

Aoko was impressed. When she'd heard about Harry's wand holster and that the wand would return to it if it wasn't in his hand, she had wondered if the same thing could be done on other things. It would be rather amusing for a thief to try and steal something that kept returning to its owner after all, she had chosen black keys though.

Black keys were used by the church and weren't generally available to magi, the Mage's Association and the Holy Church had never had the best of relationships after all. She knew that an executor always carried a ridiculously large number of those particular blades on them due to how many were used in a fight, subsequent losses in the clean up afterwards didn't help either.

She knew of the training dummies that Harry had brought back to the Clock Tower that the enforcers were interested in, that they didn't degrade over time like regular Magecraft was an added bonus, and she had wondered where else Harry could apply his talents. That Harry was already learning the charms necessary to create the mannequins was something that she had expected of him, Harry did like to push himself after all.

Harry's nature meant that he liked to face whatever challenges he could, that was probably one of the reasons that Harry had excelled at runes and the physical combat training with Bazett. She well remembered when Harry had tried to emulate her use of the Blue, the fifth true magic. She hadn't quite expected the explosion that followed though and Harry had promised not to experiment without her present, something that she often wasn't.

Harry liked being independent, for all of his 'sleeping-in-the-same-bed-as-his-sisters' thing, Harry liked to make his own way, for his own actions to define him. He really had not liked how the wizarding world had defined him based solely of one incident when he'd been fifteen months old.

She found it rather cute if she was honest, she was glad that she had been able to impart at least a little of her own philosophy in him, most magi were rather lacking in morals if she was to speak honestly. That Harry considered himself a monster yet still maintained a semblance of a conscience was a rather interesting contradiction, an oxymoron she thought it was called. She watched on as Waver asked a question and Harry's attention was diverted to the person on his other side.

xxxxx

Harry rather enjoyed the meal with his family at Hogwarts, the conversation had been rather interesting, Waver had a number of questions about the theory behind different branches of Wizardcraft, Aoko was interested in his work on the black keys and both of them had questions about wizarding society in general.

Harry's attention had not been fully focused on those two though, he'd kept an eye on everyone at the table. With food in front of them nothing else seemed to matter to Weasel, Crabbe or Goyle, the three of them simply shovelled food into their mouths at a ridiculous rate. Harry had kept a wary eye on Zelretch who was still sat with Fred and George, those three and Euryale kept bursting into fits of laughter during whatever whispered conversations they were having.

Stheno and Hermione seemed to have gotten into a conversation of their own, comparing how wizarding history was interwoven with and affected muggle history. It was fairly amusing seeing Hermione try and sneak a question in that was aimed more at Harry, his family and friends only to be deflected by Stheno who would then draw Hermione into another aspect of history, the thirteen year old had no chance against Stheno, if she was sorted then she'd probably be a Slytherin with how easily she was redirecting the conversation.

Harry looked over to Percy Weasley, a boy that he'd not had much contact with. The redheads eyes seemed to keep flickering back to the girl sat across from him, Ravenclaw prefect Penelope Clearwater. Harry grinned, even he could see what was going on there when the girl's eyes flickered up to meet Percy's. Harry was just taking a sip from his goblet when Percy seemed to notice him, giving a subtle jerk of his head to Penelope, Harry tilted his goblet at him and gave a small smile. A light dusting of pink settled on Percy's cheeks and he gave a subtle nod and smile back, it seemed that the rumours about him being 'so uptight and rule conscious no girl would give him the time of day' were wrong.

Harry had sat as far from Ginny Weasley as he could, aside from her fangirl obsession there was the issue of her scent being on that diary he'd found. Harry would be wary of the girl for now, he didn't know how much she might have been affected by it, he hoped it wasn't anything major. He hated the way that the little girl's eyes flickered up to him whenever she thought he wasn't looking her way, he'd caught her at it at least a dozen times, but it was the way she scowled at all the girls that had dog-piled him that really peeved him off.

The other first year, a blonde Ravenclaw named Luna Lovegood, was staring dreamily into space. She seemed a bit detached from things, it was like she was in her own little world. Harry frowned at that, even he wasn't that disassociated with other people, he wondered if he should look into why she was and possibly help her.

Malfoy was, thankfully, not being as much of an arse as Harry might have expected him to be. The blonde was eating quietly and looking around himself with distaste, the fact that he was in close proximity to the 'blood-traitor' Weasleys probably contributed to that. He was also shooting looks at Stheno and Euryale, looks that Harry really didn't like and had him wary of whatever was going through the ferret's mind.

Arcueid was being her usual cheery self and talking to anyone who cared to listen, Penelope Clearwater seemed to be her primary audience but Harry could tell that Dumbledore and Snape were paying attention too. It was always good to see Arc, her cheerful mood always seemed somewhat infectious and Harry found himself grinning simple looking at her.

Altrouge was sat next to Arc, she didn't look too happy about that, and was drinking frequently from the goblet in her hand. Harry's nose twitched at the scent of human blood, how she had managed to get a goblet of it Harry didn't know. It wasn't that Harry was against drinking human blood, Altrouge had actually gotten him to try it and he was addicted to blood pops, but he was wary of how people would react to it. Neville who was nearest to her had already seemed to notice it and he was looking a little unnerved, Harry made a mental note to talk to him later, preferably without Hermione there.

Harry sat back in his chair and smiled, he really liked having his family together like this. When Dumbledore had made his offer Harry hadn't been sure that he could actually do that so he'd done a bit of research. It turned out that, as a castle and school, Hogwarts pre-dated the Ministry of Magic. This meant that, as the older institution, Hogwarts had the 'right to self-rule' which essentially meant that they could cut contact and become totally independent whenever. It was when Hogwarts required extra funding as class sizes swelled, improved medicine meant more people lived long enough to actually go to school, that the Ministry stepped in during their own younger days.

The Ministry then had been composed of a number of clan heads that wanted to make a set of rules and guidelines that all magicals would follow, there had been a number of clan wars at the time that had brought some clans to near-extinction while muggle-borns were becoming more numerous, and, as they then had the finances to do so, the Ministry subsidised some things for Hogwarts. This meant that the Ministry had a voice so to speak, they could influence decisions and the like that were made about the school.

Hogwarts however remained the property of the heirs of the founders, the lines now having gone extinct or almost impossible to trace. As Hogwarts could not be taken under Ministry control the aspects that defined it as a castle and as a school were separated. During term-time, no one could be invited to the school to stay for an extended time without the Ministry agreeing to it but during the Holidays, when the school reverted to being a castle and not a school, the headmaster could throw a party with an up and coming dark lord and the Ministry would have no grounds to oppose it. The heirs were the ones who could invite others but as there were none, Voldemort had not been confirmed by the goblins so he didn't count, the castle was entrusted to the headmaster who could issue invitations himself if there were no heirs that opposed it. Seeing as there were no heirs currently on record, Dumbledore had had no one to ask for permission and as such could invite whoever he pleased to the castle.

Harry had read up on all of that before he'd told everyone back home about it, it wouldn't have done for the offer to be invalid after all. It was interesting how the increase of muggle-borns was what was responsible for the Ministry of Magic getting a foot-hold in Hogwarts, the Ministry never seemed to be grateful for them but, even back then, muggle-borns had never been on top of the pile.

Reading about that event had lead Harry to looking more deeply into history, and he didn't mean the goblin wars that Binns droned on about. It seemed that there used to be an almost caste like system in place centuries ago, clan heads were leaders, regular clan members were whatever they wanted to be, competent muggle-borns were the warriors and magically powerful women were breeding stock. It didn't exactly paint a pretty picture, considering that some pureblood families still killed any squib children they had and it used to be worse really put a perspective on things.

It seemed the 'pureblood' thing wasn't as old as people said it was. While, yes, there were families like that more than two thousand years ago, it was only in the last three centuries that it had become a more major issue. Once again, it seemed muggle-borns were responsible for the changing attitudes. It was amazing how much effect they'd had on the wizarding world simply by being born, few of them probably ever realised that fact. The pureblood thing had come about when the clan heads had realised just how quickly the muggle-borns were beginning to appear, with so many muggles in the world and so few witches and wizards it shouldn't really have been surprising when more and more of them turned up.

The muggle-borns of the past, the magically competent ones at least, were usually bound to a clan. Either through potions or oaths, the magical clan would promise to take them in and teach them what they knew as long as the muggle-born would be their sword and shield, to kill their enemies and be the first line of defence for their homes. Harry found that, often, the vows worked out in the muggle-borns favour as they eventually became integrated with the clan but the potioned ones were the unlucky ones.

The potioned ones fell into two categories, the magically powerful women chosen to bear strong children and the disposable assets whenever they needed to throw bodies at a problem. The former category should be quite obvious and there was the rare occasion when said woman wasn't actually a muggle-born but a non-human. Harry had been both amused and disgusted when he found out where the Malfoys had gotten their name. Another wizarding family had had a treaty with them and that clan had left their veela slaves to be protected by the Malfoys, then Belpois, while they had gone to war with another clan.

On returning to the Belpois, they had found their veela slaves raped and abused by their supposed allies. Take note that veela can only ever bear one man their child, they can make love to as many men as any other but only the one that takes their virginity can be the father of their children. When the clan had returned to find all of the virgin veela spoiled and the non-virgins broken from excessive 'use', they had driven the clan to the edge of extinction, only by leaving France had the Belpois survive and by spending money could they purchase a name of nobility. The clan they had offended had kept a grudge though and used their influence so that, even if they could not end the Belpois line, they would never have an honourable name, thus they became the Malfoys or 'Bad Faith' as it were.

Harry shook his head, his mind was miles away and that was never a good sign. At the other end of the table, three seats to the fangirl's left, was Dumbledore along with the other professors. Flitwick had glanced at him occasionally throughout the meal, Harry supposed that if the charms professor wished to speak to him then he would, sooner or later. He'd also seen the interested look in Babbling's eye even if it was less noticeable than the ever-excitable part-goblin, he filed that away as well. Snape's eyes also held curiosity but it was only a faint glimmer, that man liked his own privacy to much to intrude on another's so he would probably keep silent unless directly asked. Dumbledore himself seemed rather cheery but it wasn't as natural as other times, there was less spontaneity, less randomness today.

As all things must do, the meal ended and the whatever was left of the food vanished. Malfoy left the table as soon as he could, he obviously didn't want to remain in their company longer than absolutely necessary. The ferret's bookends seemed surprised at this hasty departure and had to hurry after him, something that Harry swore made the castle shake even if Lady Hogwarts told him it would take more than that to affect her, she said it would take at least two of each of them. Harry had to wonder if lady Hogwarts was developing a slightly snarky personality to sit alongside her bubbly one, he wondered whether that was a good thing or a bad one.

Down their three Slytherins, the rest of the people there dispersed. Harry was going with his friends and family to their assigned rooms, even if he doubted that they would stay there. There was a high likelihood of him waking up one morning to find that he wasn't alone in bed, his usual company of Len not withstanding, of course.

On the way up to the rooms that Dumbledore was leading them to, Harry dropped back a bit to speak with Zelretch regarding his acquisition of a fresh monkey's corpse. Unlike other adults who would question the necessity of such a thing, Zelretch simply asked two questions.

"How fresh do you need it exactly and when do you need it by?" That was one of the things he loved about being a magus, all odd requests were simply seen to just as any ordinary one would be, it was one occasion when the magi lack of morals was useful as there were far weirder things purchased by other researchers.

"As fresh as possible, I'll be sticking it under preservation charms as soon as I can, and as soon as one can be found. In actuality I don't need the entire monkey, just the nerves, brain, ears and mouth though I could probably find a use for the spare pieces." Harry replied.

Zelretch raised an eyebrow. "Sympathetic magic? Either that or... Are you trying to make some basic form of homunculus?"

"The former actually, although it might stray into the latter. I am honestly uncertain what to qualify what I've found as, it's like nothing I've ever heard of before except in stories and even then, it's not like this." That was true, the phylacteries of liches he had read about in stories had stored there entire soul outside their physical body, what he had was a fragment of one.

"Hmm, curious." Zelretch seemed to click onto something then and was surprised by it. His surprise was well hidden however, so well that Harry only recognised the subtle signs due to having grown up around the elderly apostle and knowing what to look for. "If it is what I think it is then congratulations are in order, I don't believe that any of your alternates recognised it for what it was this early without outside influence."

Harry was surprised himself, pleasantly so. It wasn't everyday that you were told that out of every last one of you that exists in the multi-verse, an uncountable number really, you were the youngest to do or notice something. Harry managed to keep the wide grin that threatened to break out onto his face under control, it would have seemed rather odd if he suddenly cackled for no apparent reason.

"I believe that I can get that monkey to you within two or three days, I know how you don't like the idea of killing them just for experiments, Aoko most certainly left her mark on you." Zelretch continued. "As an aside, I would like to have a look at this object if you don't mind. Although I have observed a near-limitless number of them, I have never actually seen one in person."

Harry scowled. "If the sensation I got form the structural analysis of it is anything to go by, it is something I would rather magi never even learned was possible."

Zelretch came a little closer to Harry, the younger boy was now almost hidden and enveloped in the Wizard Marshal's cloak. "To be honest, I don't think mankind is ready for half the responsibilities it currently tries to shoulder. Humans aren't mature enough to use nuclear power responsibly for example, I can't imagine what would happen if there was someone with a magus mindset and a wizard skill set, it would be far from pleasant, I can tell that much immediately."

Harry nodded his agreement, humanity advanced faster scientifically than they did as a society. They advanced fastest in times of war so perhaps it shouldn't have been as much of a surprise, Harry wondered what would happen if the whole human race came under a geass to never kill each other.

They soon arrived at the guest rooms, coincidentally they were the same ones they'd been in at the end of last year, and Dumbledore left them to their own devices. Harry took a moment to check for any listening devices, call him paranoid but... okay, he was paranoid. The search turned up nothing, which Harry was pleased about.

"So, you told us about your little tower that you took over. Would you mind showing us it?" Altrouge asked.

Harry smiled at her and stepped forward to hug the vampire who wore the form of a fourteen year old, he felt her arms wrap around him as well.

Click

The two of them looked up to see Zelretch looking to one side and whistling innocently, a camera in his hand. Aoko was smiling at them as was Stheno, Euryale was cooing at the pair of them and Waver was smirking. Harry didn't see Arcueid though, where was she?

That was soon answered as the two of them were almost taken to the floor by a flying hug from said true ancestor. Seeing the twitch start to appear above Altrouge's eye, Harry pulled Altrouge in for a closer hug, he could do without Altrouge and Arcueid going for each other's throats.

Deciding that a distraction was in order, Harry teleported them all straight to his tower. He also made sure that Arcueid was slightly to one side of them rather than on top of them like she had been, this left the true ancestor flat on the floor, pouting. Harry had dropped them just inside the entrance portrait, that skeleton painting that connected it to the rest of the castle and acted like a little entrance room kind of place.

Now that they were alone, Liz and Fran became physical. The two suddenly appearing Heroic Spirits made Aoko jump a bit, Harry had forgotten that she had yet to meet them so, after getting their permission, Harry introduced them, names and all. Aoko was fine with them being who they were, she said that if she can get along with the Eclipse Princess of Black Blood then they shouldn't have to worry.

Moving on to the tower, Harry showed them the entrance room they were currently stood in and all of the arrays that covered the walls, floor and ceiling that prevented people not keyed in from entering. He may have overdone it somewhat but he thought that it was better to do too much than too little.

Waver was interested in his little library, he'd added several Wizardcraft books to it over the summer and his Waver hadn't had a chance to read any of them yet. It was easy to see that theory was Waver's forte, he seemingly understood everything he read and was pretty damn good at passing on that knowledge, he certainly had a reputation for it back at the Clock Tower.

Harry's ingredient store also got a few curious looks, he kept it well-stocked after all, but it was the vials of acromantula venom that took up so much space that people wanted to know about. Harry simply told them what it was, he also said that he was slowly selling the stuff off because of its value, Harry didn't exactly need potent venom anyway.

That reminded Harry, his upper jaw had been aching a bit lately. His lengthy canines had also been aching, he was at the point that he was considering going to Madam Pomfrey to get her to check it out. He hoped it wasn't anything serious and he did brush his teeth twice a day in addition to hygiene charms.

Moving on with the tour, Harry showed them his stock-pile of potions and told them what the effects of them all were. There was a few in there that Harry had made outside of his classes that were either classified as dark or were supposed to be a bit advanced for his age. An example of a potion that fell into the latter group was a strengthening solution based on re'em blood that boosted physical strength greatly for around forty-eight hours, it was like a magical steroid and was banned in competitions but Harry had brewed some just in case it was ever needed. One of the potions that he'd brewed that would be classified as dark was one that dissolved flesh, it only worked on magicals though and was used during the witch burnings by the church, how they came across a supply of the stuff was unknown but the recipe existed regardless. Harry had brewed this one more as an attempt to become more familiar with some less common ingredients, he didn't think it was a potion he'd ever use though as there were far more efficient methods of killing available.

When Harry opened the door to his potions lab, what caught everyone's attention was the eight cauldrons that were bubbling away on the worktop. Aoko and Waver were most curious about these and wondered if a magus could make potions like witches and wizards could. It was well known that muggles couldn't brew potions even if they had all the ingredients, the process simply required magic they didn't have, but with how different wizards and magi were there was no way of knowing if the latter could brew he former's potions, Harry decided that he'd get Waver to try and make a boil cure when they had a spare hour or two.

Anyway, the potions on the top were several that Harry was experimenting with. When he'd heard Helena muttering about how she might improve the polyjuice potion he had asked her what else she might be able to do, the result of which was on the counter in front of him now. The Grey Lady had been rather happy with something to occupy her time and had smiled broadly when Harry told her that, if successful, he would get a book published under her name if she wanted it. Helena had told him to put his name on it to, he would be the one actually brewing the potions and, well, his name was famous and would help the sales greatly. Helena did say that putting her 'ghost title' on it would also get attention, everyone knew of the four house ghosts after all and Helena was the ghost of Ravenclaw, the house of the wise.

Moving on to the next floor, the one that had three occupied bedrooms and two unoccupied ones, Harry told them whose was whose and let them in to his room. Stheno and Euryale smiled at the depictions of Gorgons around the room and Arcueid seemed to instantly gravitate to the depiction of the chimaera. Altrouge sat on the side of Harry's bed and looked at a picture on the table next to it.

That picture was one of Harry's all time favourites. It had been taken before he left for Hogwarts and showed Harry between Stheno and Euryale, who each had an arm around him, With Zelretch on Stheno's left and Waver on Euryale's right. The frame of the picture was solid silver and had the word 'Family' etched into the top of it, that was really precious to him.

There were two more pictures on the table and Altrouge set the one in her hand down so she could pick up the next one. This picture was slightly older than the previous one and had been taken by Zelretch, that old man always seemed to have a camera at hand. This had Harry asleep against the side of Primate Murder with Altrouge curled up on one side of him and Arcueid laid flat out on the other, the true ancestor was awake and seemed to be trying to style Harry's hair. Aoko was in this picture as well, 'photo-bombing' she believed it was called as said japanese woman had dived into the frame whilst holding her fingers in a peace sign. Altrouge noticed that Len was curled up in Harry's lap and wondered just how charismatic that boy could be.

The last picture had been taken far more recently than the others, within the last couple of months, and showed Elestia stood beside Harry with those two Heroic Spirits of his on the young hybrid's other side. The forest's consciousness looked rather bemused in the picture, it was doubtful that she knew what a camera was and what it did, and there was a golden unicorn in front of the four of them, they didn't turn silver until they were two years old and didn't get their horns until they were four.

Harry said that they would only go into the other bedrooms if the girls wanted to let them in, their was a little bit of blushing but they said yes. Elizabeth's room had walls of a dark midnight blue colour with three large red diamonds on each wall. Her wardrobe was in the corner and there was a floor length mirror next to it. The open wardrobe doors showed some of the outfits that Harry had purchased when they'd dragged him on a shopping spree.

Harry well remembered that day, he might have become used to the girls he already knew wearing little to nothing at times but a girl he had just met? Harry had had to adjust mentally to some of the scandalous things that Liz in particular had bought, he could now say that no matter who, or what, they were, he wouldn't bat an eyelash at their attire. A magus mindset came in helpful here for a change and Harry had forced himself to completely ignore someone's clothes, or lack of them as the case may be. It had developed over the last few months to the point that Harry no longer cared about the unspoken, or sometimes loudly vocalised, nudity taboos amongst people. Harry simply chalked it up to him once again distancing himself from what he considered human, it was simply something he attached to that label and made it easier to be not concerned about.

In Elizabeth's room there was also several large bits of paper that turned out to be her attempts at art. Most of them depicted dragons of one sort or another but one obviously wasn't, though what it was was a mystery as it was far from finished. Liz blushed quite deeply when they saw that last image for some reason and Zelretch got a knowing glint in his eye, Harry simply decided to ignore it for now as they moved onto Fran's room.

Unlike Harry, who had chosen quite a complex set-up for his walls, and Liz, who had gone more simple with contrasting colours, Fran's room was much more normal. Her walls were in neutral cream tones, a rather warm cream though, and there were a few paintings hung up as well. One of the paintings seemed to be a dragon that Liz had done, said Lancer's proud look pretty much confirmed that, and another was a painting of Hogwarts castle.

There was a bed like in the other rooms but unlike Harry and Liz, this room's bed was right by the window and on the side of tower that would receive most light during the day. Both Harry and Liz muttered about it matching her sunny if shy disposition, this earned them a light whack on the head which both of them pouted at.

Once out of Fran's room, they headed for the next floor which was completely empty except for one particular one. Harry scowled at where one door should but was instead alchemically transmuted into part of the wall. The other's looked somewhat confused at Harry's anger and hatred that was emanating from him, it was rather uncharacteristic for him after all. Stheno looked especially concerned and it was her that asked him what the matter was.

"What's the matter? What's on the other side of there is what's the matter. If there ever was one bit of Wizardcraft that should never be introduced to magi it is what is on the other side of that bit of wall, I would also love to erase it from Wizardcraft as well if I could. Don't worry about it though, if all goes well then it won't remain a problem for much longer." Harry replied, a rather chilling and feral grin making itself known on his face.

"What is it that has you so worked up?" Aoko asked, she might not be the closest to Harry out of everyone there but she still felt a little like an older sister to him.

"Simply put, it is something that completely goes against your philosophy Aoko. If I'm right about other things as well, it may even disgust magi in general and we all know how pragmatic they are." That made all of them curious but no one pushed the issue, it was obvious how strong Harry's distaste for whatever it might be was. Zelretch did give it a speculative look as they made their way to the top floor and Harry's workshop.

Now, for most magi, that would be simply unthinkable. Inviting someone into your own workshop was something that was done for the absolute closest individuals, for masters and apprentices, it was far more likely that a magus would invite a street urchin into their bed than it was to invite a fellow magus to their workshop, it simply wasn't done.

Harry didn't care. He trusted these people and really, what would Altrouge do with his research? What would Arcueid do with it? The only real magi amongst them were Waver, Zelretch and Aoko. Waver was a teacher and someone Harry trusted, the man had actually helped Harry on some of his projects before. Aoko was one of the more moral magi in existence and any research she did would be about her own sorcery, the blue. Trying to prevent Zelretch access would be foolish, if he wanted to then he could probably gain entry to any magus workshop that he wanted without much effort, he could also simply observe via the kaleidoscope and no one would be any the wiser. Allowing so many access to what he was researching was one of the biggest things that separated Harry from other magi, even beyond his part-human heritage.

Since he had first set up his projects in the tower, Harry had made a fair bit of progress in some areas. The magic-draining orbs he had used against Dumbledore in their duel had been an example of his research focusing on what he could do with his element and origin.

Other things he could now do in this field was make a golem purely from ether, the result was extremely similar to the ghosts of this world, which he could manipulate from a distance like a familiar. It was excellent for use as a scout or reconnaissance, it's purely ether body making physical objects pass right through it.

He could also extend an aura of sorts around objects he held and by combining that with the five elements he could make things burst into flames or freeze solid simply by touching them. Harry had an idea involving that and his manipulation of gravity that might allow him to walk on water, it was a cool idea if nothing else.

Harry's attempts at mapping the castle were now pretty useless, he had direct contact with Lady Hogwarts after all and she had even asked if he wanted to see Rowena's changeable room. That project had pretty much been scrapped, the discovery of the Marauder's map had already done that and Harry was now trying to recreate said map.

Harry's study of mundane subjects was advancing rapidly as well, he excelled at maths and physics especially. At the rate he was going he would finish the secondary level education by his thirteenth birthday and the college level studies by his fourteenth. Harry was already past that in a few subjects though and he was thinking of picking up architecture or something to fill in some spare time.

Harry's other major project, the mobile phones, had seen something of a break-through. Having based designs of Fran's alchemically based Galvanism ability, Harry had managed to create arrays that would both prevent an electronic projects destruction due to the high mana levels as well as drain said mana to refill the battery. Harry knew that he wasn't good enough with the Kaleidoscope yet to allow a signal to travel between realities and he would have to ask Zelretch to do that. What he had left to do was find a way to use magic to boost the signal range so that he could make a call even from somewhere like Hogwarts where there wasn't a telephone mast for a long way. Harry thought he had the answer to that though and had applied several amplification charms and runes to the aerial, charms meant to amplify the effects of lightning and electricity in general.

"Hey Gramps, can you work your magic on these so that they'll work no matter which reality they're in?" Harry asked as he passed Zelretch two sim cards. Harry had purchased one in this world and one in his home world, he'd taken pains to make sure both had the same phone number. The phone that Harry was planning to use could take two sims and was meant for business and personal use but Harry thought that one for his home reality and one for this reality worked just as well.

Zelretch simply muttered something under his breath, probably an aria of some description, before handing them back. The two sim cards might not have looked any different but, when Harry analysed them, they certainly felt different. The felt like they were partially out of phase, like a partially astralised servant or something, possibly something to look into.

Slotting the two sim cards into the phone then placing the battery on to of that, Harry switched the phone on. He waited with baited breath as it loaded up, good news was that it didn't explode or break immediately, and yelled his success when the screen came on and displayed that both sims had signal.

"A success I take it?" Aoko asked with a raised eyebrow to which Harry responded with a wide grin, his fangs were visible but this smile was far from feral.

"Yes." Harry replied. "And if anyone wants me to alter their phones so that they are recharged off ambient mana then I am fully capable of doing it, I doubt many others will need to ring between dimensions though."

Aoko chuckled and told him her mobile number. A moment later, her phone was ringing and she saved Harry's number for future reference. She thought it a good thing that she could now contact him whenever she wanted, it was rather rare for her to stay in one place long enough to get to know someone so she had few friends and, as such, she treasured all of the people who she did know.

Harry added Zelretch's number too, that old guy was probably the most up to date vampire ever, as well as Waver and Stheno. Euryale didn't have a mobile and neither did Arcueid or Altrouge though the latter did express an interest in one. Harry made a mental note to also get Hermione's home number and give her his, though how he was going to explain how he got a phone working at Hogwarts he didn't know. That said phone wouldn't be created for about another two decades was also something he wasn't looking forward to explaining, he decided to wing it when the time came.

Harry grabbed a piece of paper and noted down several more things that he wished to research, the walking on water thing that he'd already mentioned, the partially out of phase sensation he'd gotten from the Zelretch modified sim cards, trying to find a method by which he and Lady Hogwarts could separate, the potions experiments that he was doing with Helena and continuing his research on wards being a few of them.

They all then left to go out onto the grounds, it was a beautiful day after all and it would be a shame to waste it.

xxxxx

There was only one word to come to mind when she saw him: ferocious.

Whether it was in a duel against the headmaster or even the way he walked, he always gave off the presence of an apex predator. He was an alpha, he didn't care what others thought about him and did as he pleased. He was powerful and he knew how to exercise that power.

Actually, maybe alpha isn't exactly right. He is separate from the main pack and made his own smaller pack. He was like an omega that had decided on his own path. In a wolf pack the alpha was at the top of the hierarchy, the beta was after and then there were the subordinates.

The omega was right at the bottom and was what the rest vented their frustrations on. Perhaps that was an apt description after all then as didn't the most major pack, the wizarding world in general, focus on him whenever something goes right or wrong?

Looking through newspapers of the last decade you would find not infrequent mention of 'the wizarding world's saviour', the 'boy-who-lived' or whatever other name they decided to call him at the time. Often what they were referencing was something that simply could not be related to an orphan child, politics was a common one as was patriotism.

They'd taken a blow when he had turned up and had not been anything like what they were expecting, not even 'historical' accounts from the incident in his youth accounted for the one who answered to the name of Harry James Potter. Several tried to claim that the backlash from the dark lord's attack must have affected him more than they realised, others claimed that some group had gotten hold of him and brainwashed him.

Over the course of his first year at Hogwarts many had tried to come up with an explanation for what had happened, none had succeeded. For once, the wizarding world took what they were reading with a pinch of salt as opinions changed from day to day. It was an odd time when the Quibbler's theories were thought just as likely or unlikely as the Daily Prophet's.

When the 'new' family of Harry Potter had turned up at Hogwarts at year's end and two of them had been seen to look rather similar to the boy-who-lived many had begun to wonder. Over the summer Rita Skeeter had also come out ahead in her articles, she always seemed to come back like a cockroach.

There had then been the whole thing where the Wizengamot had tried to find out about Harry Potter's 'new' family and hadn't been able to access the records of the Germans or the Greeks. Even the Quibbler hadn't anything on the name Shweinorg, and people mostly let them look because no one would believe them, but then again he could always be some kind of dimension hopping vampire with a unique sense of humour. Even Luna hadn't bought that one.

The name Stheno though could be found in muggle mythology and, if you actually looked at their records, the Greeks had the name down but they didn't have a date of birth or death for her. This was weird as the record itself was at least three thousand years old if not older.

Stheno was a Greek name associated with the Gorgons who were linked to snakes, and Luna well remembered how Harry Potter had dismissed a bite from a deadly venomous snake as if it was nothing. That could have been the end of it but the name Euryale had also turned up, the other Gorgon sister, the middle child. In legend the two of them had been the immortal sisters and Medusa the only one that could be killed, maybe that's why there were only two and not three of them.

Then there had been the others, Waver Velvet and Aoko Aozaki had both seemed human and they had both lacked nargles that other witches and wizards seemed to be infested with, Hermione Granger had a really severe case of it. The two that were called Brunestud were similar yet not, like two sides of one coin.

Arcueid was happy and ditzy, or that is how she wanted to appear at least. Luna noticed the happiness in her eyes as she talked and involved herself in everything around her, revelling in the company. Altrouge had however only shown true happiness when she looked in Harry Potter's direction and simply accepted everything else, her goblet of human blood had made Luna's eyes widen when she had noticed it, it seemed Neville Longbottom had noticed it too.

Luna wasn't surprised by the feeling of blood that she got from Altrouge Brunestud, nor the same feeling from Kischur Shweinorg, what she was surprised by was the feel of Harry Potter himself.

Whereas both Altrouge and Zelretch emanated a feeling of blood, the latter to a lesser extent than the former, and Arcueid also emanated a minor sensation of such, she felt more earthy though, she had expected him to follow the same pattern as his sisters.

Luna had not been able to get much of a reading on Harry Potter, he kept to himself more than anyone and encountering him in the corridors and hallways was uncommon, but she had noticed him at a distance. He seemed to have formed some kind of bond or attachment to the giant squid, evidenced in the way that it reacted to him almost like conversation, and the castle seemed to have a thing for him, she had noticed the secret passageways and staircases changing to shorten his journeys.

When the two purple-haired women had walked into the hall she had been hit by a sense of worship, it was like they were goddesses in need of worship. She noticed that Draco Malfoy had also noticed them though his intentions seemed far less pure and more in line with worship of their bodies then self, if worship was really what was on his mind.

It was only when Harry Potter entered the room and approached the table that she could finally get a lock on him, it was really confusing. It was like there were several people stood in one position at the same time and all of their natures hit her at once.

There had been snake in there, she could almost taste the venom, and there had been blood, the coppery tang assaulting her senses, there had been something artificial about it all like a golem, something dragon-like, something silky, something firm and rough, like stone and mortar, something dark and evil, something wild and free, something cold and hard, something calculating, something careless, something secret and soaked in blood. There had been many more but Luna had become disconnected by it all, it was a contradiction, it was as if he didn't care to know himself, as if his very nature was to be whatever he decided at the time.

It was ridiculous and, whether she'd say so or not, Luna was actually a little afraid of it all. She was a girl who understood people, she liked to affect her innocent and loopy disposition so people would disregard her but she'd felt Harry's gaze on her at one point.

She knew that she had been found out, at least in part, but it was something new for her to realise that someone had taken note of her without her meaning to mean anything to anyone any more. She knew that now he'd taken notice of her that he'd start to pay more attention to her and she wondered what he would do, he wasn't exactly the most predictable of people from what she'd heard.

xxxxx

Elsewhere in the castle, Zelretch contemplated his surrogate grandson. He was, he found, proud of the boy. It was an interesting feeling, something that he couldn't remember any of his alternates feeling. It had been his own decision that had led to him becoming a part of the young boy's life and the young boy becoming a part of his life. It was something that he really didn't regret, he in fact enjoyed it.

His alternates got so much joy from messing with the lives of so many people but, for him, that had lost its lustre. He was now more of a prankster than he was someone who people cursed when their lives became complicated, it really intrigued him.

He knew just how unique Harry was, there was no one like him throughout the multi-verse and that would always prevent him mastering the Kaleidoscope. When he gathered prana from other worlds he did so through his alternates, they acted like gateways into each world. That wasn't to say that he couldn't go to worlds where there wasn't a version of him, he could as he was at Hogwarts right then.

Now, with how Harry had changed, he had no true alternates. There were still numerous 'Harry Potters' throughout the multi-verse and a good chunk of them were 'the-boy-who-lived' but Harry's nature had become so far removed from theirs that he could never share his knowledge between them like Zelretch could, he could never gather the vast energies that he could and he could never find an alternate like him.

He wondered what would happen if one Harry Potter from another world ever met this one, perhaps one of those from the most common reality where he stayed at the Dursleys until Hogwarts and then encountered the Weasleys at King's Cross, the ones that all ended with him and they Weasley girl getting married and so much death with the 'battle of Hogwarts' and the 'Second Wizarding War' with their Dark Lord Voldemort.

It was something to think about if nothing else.


	28. A Straw Doll

AN: An important chapter this one even if only for a part of it. I think the next chapter will be going down to the chamber itself and possibly Christmas day depending on how much I write for it. Not sure what people are going to think of how I chose to do things with the diary but it's done now. I got a few interesting responses to the questions in my previous chapter's AN so I'm going to ask a few more here; What do you think I'm going to do with all of the horcruxes now? How do you think third year is going to go? What fun am I planning with the time turner? What am I going to do with Harry's electives? Am I as crap at romance as I think I'm going to be? Why since the duel between Harry and Dumbledore can I think of nothing but pink velociraptors? What Christmas gifts are going to turn up? What am I going to do with Harry's patronus? What's going to happen for the rest of second year?

As usual, my forum can be found on my profile or here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

Please enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think of it.

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 28 – A Straw Doll

Harry managed to catch up to Neville early the next morning. He had asked Lady Hogwarts for the location of both and Hermione had been down by the underground harbour, probably working on the potion, and Neville had been on his way there.

Catching up to the boy, Harry wondered how he was going to start this conversation. It really wasn't something he was good at, all those who knew Altrouge already knew who she was and _what_ she was. Deciding to just get it over with, Harry called out to the Gryffindor.

"Hey, wait up." Neville turned to see Harry Potter catching up to him from the upper floors. He frowned, didn't the Hufflepuffs all come and go from the basement?

"Yes Harry?" Neville asked. He had become fairly good friends with the black and purple haired boy, or so he thought anyway, but you could never really tell what was going on with him.

Harry sighed and palmed his face. "I don't really know how to go about talking about this but I noticed that you noticed what Altrouge was drinking yesterday." He said as he dragged a hand down his face.

Neville froze, he had recognised it alright and he only knew of one race that consumed human blood like that. Vampires required blood to live and willing donors, among wizards at least, were few and far between which meant that vampire covens either made treaties or such with nearby villages or simply attacked people.

"Yes, I noticed." Neville told him without stuttering, though it was a little difficult. "Human blood. Where did she get it? Willing donors are rare enough but with how things are in Britain the nearest donor is probably in Europe."

Yeah, with wizarding prejudices as high as they were in Britain the nearest donor probably _is _in somewhere like France or Spain. That tended to make people uneasy and to find a vampire so close to the Boy-Who-Lived... well some people would probably start making assumptions.

"Oh yeah, wizard raised." Harry mumbled. "forgot about that." He straightened. "You know that in the wizarding world sometimes people need a blood replenishing potion?" Neville nodded. "Well sometimes muggles need blood too and they don't have access to potions, with me so far?" another nod. "It is fairly common in the muggle world for people to donate blood, I actually think that there's an award system in place for it. This also means that blood can be purchased in the muggle world." Comprehension seemed to dawn in Neville's eyes. "It seems you've worked out what I'm going to tell you. Unlike the wizarding world which only has three options for vampires, treaty for blood, donors or simply attacking someone, the muggle world has legitimate methods of supplying it."

"Thanks Harry." Neville said with an easy smile, he probably shouldn't have assumed the worst from someone connected to his friend. "I suppose I should have thought that something like that was possible, it's just that vampires don't exactly have a very good reputation with us. I suppose the lack of options necessitated those things for vampires, I would make sense as wizards are against giving up their blood because of the spells and rituals that can be done with it."

Glad to get that sorted out, the two wizards fell into easy conversation as they headed down to where their potion was waiting for them. Hermione was already there and double-checking everything was ready for the next step. At the rate it was going, the potion would be ready to drink on Boxing day.

xxxxx

Altrouge watched the two pre-teens and the thirteen year old brew their potion from the shadows. Harry probably realised she was there but recognised that she wanted to be alone right now as she observed them. Many people would wonder what would cause the princess of the dead apostles to fall into a contemplative mood. The answer was simple... Harry.

Harry Potter had fallen into her life years ago and now she honestly didn't know how she'd managed without him. He could cheer her up whenever she was down, calm her whenever she was ready to tear someone's throat out and he could always manage to interest her in something.

Harry was by now known to the dead apostle ancestors and he'd even met a few. Strout and Svelten had been most surprised by him when they had met, they had wanted to see the boy that Altrouge had spent so much time with and that Primate Murder seemed fine with. She'd actually heard that Merem Solomon had helped Zelretch with Harry's Christmas gift, though what that gift was still remained a mystery. What had surprised them was that Harry truly didn't care for the human race, he didn't care for the apostles either nor for the types, the church or magi.

In his own words, Harry cared for people and not groups. He couldn't care less about some random human he'd never meet but Aoko and Waver were another matter entirely. He would have assisted in the fight against Roa and Nrvnqsr Chaos if he'd been older but he would defend Altrouge to the best of his ability.

Most people who claimed to like people and not a species or some other designation for a group would often hold only partially true to that, they would care for those close to them greatly but would still try and assist their own race whenever they could. Harry on the other hand truly didn't care, he said that if people wanted improvement then they should go out and do it rather than talking about it.

Harry himself did actually get involved in some projects but only those that appealed to him. There had been one about planting a new tree every time a grown one is cut down, Harry had agreed with that but whether it was due to the sustainability of resources or something else she didn't know.

He was a truly curious person, she would never call him a human, and someone she was glad to know. His declaring himself a monster was something that yet again separated him from the herd as it were, his concept of self was shot to hell. Perhaps it was that which allowed him to so easily associate with what others would call monsters, Apostles, Succubi, Heroic Spirits, Gorgons, Lady Hogwarts, Elestia and the kraken amongst others.

She knew she herself was no saint and she fully accepted that, it was others accepting it so easily that she couldn't understand. Yet again it seemed that Harry did the impossible by bringing all of them together regardless of who or what they were. Her arguments with Arcueid were more a gimmick, a habit, than anything else these days and she actually did feel like an elder sister to Arcueid now, something that she hadn't thought that she ever would.

It was almost impossible to hate Harry, he simply let their opinions wash over him and leave him unaffected. The exceptions to that rule though were the ones that actually managed to irritate him, those like that redhead boy and the blonde.

As she understood it, Harry simply disliked the boy from the start. He would have been happy to leave him alone if he hadn't put that Hermione girl in danger, someone that Harry had started forming a tentative friendship with. The result of that was the thin scar that now adorned the ginger boy's face, when angry Harry wasn't one to mess around.

As for the blonde, Draco Malfoy, Harry simply didn't care about him. The baby dragon, even if he didn't deserve that name, seemed to take offence at the fact that Harry didn't worship him and the ground he walked on. She had heard about the bigotry and blood purity that was rampant in wizarding Britain and had to hold back a laugh, it was simply that pathetic.

In the wizarding world it seemed that being born with two magical parents would apparently grant one superior magic or something like that. While the established families in the magus world did pass down their crest, and thus make their descendants more powerful, they didn't have the same prejudices against first generation magi. Granted, the older families did look down on them but that was for more practical and financial reasons than simply being born one of them.

The older magi families had their crest which had been passed down from parent to child each generation, accumulating more circuits and spells each time, this was something that young families simply didn't have. The older families had also spent a lot of time accumulating wealth and influence which the younger families also lacked. So, all in all, it was for more practical reasons that first generation magi were looked down upon than it was the muggle-borns in the wizarding world.

Getting back on track, Altrouge once again thought about Harry. Like she had said, there was almost no one who could hate the boy, even Primate Murder liked him. That was something that had initially confused her. Primate Murder, the beast of Gaia, was fond of a human. Gaia and her beast were all for the protection of the planet itself and that usually put them at odds with humans, they were the ones responsible for deforestation, global warming and so many other environmental issues.

While there were humans who were environmentally friendly, or as close as they could get, they were few and far between. There were those that reduced their carbon footprint but if it came to a choice between no cars and having a carbon footprint at all then they would still have their cars. Harry was different though, he had even managed to make the Clock Tower itself more environmentally friendly. He had done that by appealing to Lorelei's sense of self-reliance and cost effective nature.

Since it was underground, geo-thermal energy was actually quite easy to implement and the solar panels above ground where also helping. Converting the kitchens to natural gas had also been done and it was proving itself to be just as good as before. If any boy would ever be loved by Gaia it would be Harry, it was just the way it was.

Lorelei was another that Harry had affected, Altrouge knew this personally. It had been a rather odd time when Altrouge had come face to face with the vice-director when she had been heading to the rooms that Harry and his sisters lived in. The two of them had locked eyes, neither one of them making a move until both of them had simply looked away and walked past each other. That was more significant than most would think though, Lorelei Barthomeloi was well known for her absolute hatred of dead apostles and for her to ignore one in the Clock Tower was beyond belief.

On her way out that time though, a note had found it's way to her. It simply stated: Don't make trouble for me and I won't make trouble for you. It didn't take a genius to work out who had written it and Altrouge didn't make trouble for her. In fact if there ever was a dead apostle that was simply on a destructive rampage and doing nothing productive at all, the type that would not have been out of place in a human movie, she would often drop a hint or two about it whenever she was at the Clock Tower.

Altrouge's confusion was about Harry himself and how she might or might not feel about him. He had been her first friend, something that dead apostles tended to lack, and always managed to make her smile. He could cheer her up or calm her down whenever she needed it and she genuinely liked the quirky boy. The problem being she had never really had to deal with these emotions before, she used to view anyone as being useful, in need of killing, beneath her notice, someone to be wary of or simply irrelevant.

Now she didn't know what Harry was to her. Was he just her best friend, someone who was like a brother, a possible romantic interest or what? He was definitely important to her, that was beyond doubt but could she really say she was romantically interested in him? He was after all only twelve, rather young for such things by human standards but did Harry really follow human standards? They didn't even know how long Harry was likely to live, a regular human could expect to live for perhaps eighty to a hundred years, a wizard from this world could reach one hundred and fifty if they maintained themselves in good health but where did Harry fall? There was the whole issue of him being both magus and wizard alongside whatever divine nature and apostle heritage he'd inherited.

They'd confirmed that there was an aspect of divine nature in him, it would have to have come from Stheno and Euryale, as well as some form of apostle heritage, undoubtedly from Zelretch, but what did this mean for Harry? Harry's human nature was almost completely eclipsed by his more dominant heritage but there was still a sliver of it there, the most major part of his nature was actually divine. The Gorgon sisters had the biggest influence on his nature and it was only that which kept the apostle heritage from over-taking him.

They had begun to notice the effect that being part apostle had on him, his accelerated healing rate was one of the more obvious signs of it, and they wondered just how far it would go in the years to come. She remembered when she'd first convinced Harry to drink human blood and he hadn't found it distasteful but neither did he have any reliance on it like a dead apostle did. She had noted that his favourite candy amongst wizards was those blood pops, something she also found rather appealing, and Harry most certainly had fangs in his mouth. Harry's fangs though seemed to have more in common with snakes and she'd noticed him absently rubbing his jaw recently, perhaps he was developing venom glands of his own.

Her thoughts returned to Harry and how she felt about him. The simple answer was that she simply didn't know, she knew that he was important to her but what role he fulfilled in her 'life' was debatable. She decided to leave the matter alone for now, she knew that Harry had developed no sexual desire for anyone, perhaps growing up around so many beautiful females had made him a little too accustomed to the female form.

She smirked at that, if any girl ever tried to seduce Harry than showing bare skin had absolutely no chance of working, apart from being not that shallow, Harry simply didn't see the sexuality of bare skin. She looked at Harry who was even now playing with that kraken and saw his head turned in her direction. She received a slight tilt of his head and nodded back at him before leaving, whatever Harry meant to her she knew that he would always be there if she needed him.

xxxxx

Harry was currently alone in his tower, alone except for his Servants who never left his side that was. He had taken another look at that diary and thought that his plan was likely to work, Zelretch had disappeared off to acquire a fresh monkey's corpse and everyone else was currently scattered throughout the castle.

Waver and Aoko were in the library, the two of them curious about the magic of this world and trying to find out more about it. Euryale was with the twins, probably planning a prank of some kind. Arcueid was out at Hagrid's hut, the two of them getting along rather well as it turned out and she was telling the large man about Carla, the chimaera. Hermione had managed to get Stheno to talk, the latter seemed amused by the girl's attempts to find out more about them and the former was frustrated, she hadn't learned anything new about Harry and his family. Altrouge had found amusement in two individuals, she was keeping one eye on Luna Lovegood while she scared Weasel, as good an activity as any other really.

After taking another look at the diary, Harry decided to rifle through his books to try and come up with something new to look at and had found several things which caught his interest. Ofuda was one area of witchcraft that had caught his attention. It was essentially a talisman that could have an effect written on it and then, when prana was channelled through it, would enact whatever effect it was supposed to do.

Harry had thought these a wonderful idea, especially if he added wizard runes to them. They would allow anyone who could activate them to use a branch of magic that they were perhaps unsuited for. That didn't mean much to Harry as he was pretty much capable of anything, he still had to work at it though, and he realised that even wizards would be able to use them. It would get Hermione off his back if he showed her how to make something that she could use if she ever lost her wand, the fact she could use them at home and not set off the ministry sensors for under-age magic was also a bonus.

Harry had found himself rather interested in Arithmancy and had separated a number of spells into their respective spell matrices, that meant that they were pretty much ready to apply to blank bits of paper and all he'd have to add would be a trigger rune.

These ofuda, talismans, tags, whatever you wanted to call them, could be used like grenades if they were heavy enough, they could be used for traps, for time-delayed destruction or so many other things. The possibilities were as limitless as the user's imagination, something that Harry had plenty of.

Harry wondered for a moment if muggles might be able to use them as well, if they were pre-made and had a magical charge in them then they might be able to if the trigger was set to voice activated or something, the Marauder's Map did have a password after all.

Harry looked at the spell matrices that he had already separated out. He had the lumos spell, the summoning charm, the stunning spell, the basic magic shield protego, the silencing spell, the fire based blasting spell, a freezing spell and the killing curse. Harry frowned at that last one, the amount of magic it needed couldn't be held by ordinary paper but the rest were fair game.

Making a note of this particular project to attempt later, Harry looked at the next thing he was working on, magic body armour. In his duel with Ferret last year he had slapped away a spell with a reinforced hand, perhaps extending that would be beneficial if he ever made a mistake mid-duel, he had been a little reckless when he versed Dumbledore.

When he had batted Ferret's curse away with his hand, Harry had channelled prana into his hand, reinforcing it, as well as over the top of his skin which resulted in a sort of shield. Harry wondered if he could somehow channel his prana to surround him and provide an extra layer of defence, body armour as it were.

Harry had managed to focus his prana around himself, it was similar to a bounded field right now, and had added the concept of armour to it, the resistance to damage and harm. Right now it was like he was surrounded by an invisible morph suit or something, it also wasn't particularly effective so he decided to work on that as well.

When Zelretch had messed with his sim cards so that he could call alternate realities even if he wasn't in them he'd had an idea. He'd felt how the sim cards had seemed to be half in and half out of phase with everything else despite being solid enough to touch. This had led him to try and make himself insubstantial, to make himself as solid as a ghost. If successful then that added to an invisibility spell would make him somewhat similar to an astralised servant and something that could be damn useful in future.

That was it for now, at least as far as Magecraft was concerned, and Harry decided that he might as well try and learn a new Wizarding spell while he was at it. There had been that one that Dumbledore had mentioned before, the patronus charm that was supposed to be a wizard's only defence against dementors and lethifolds. The incantation was 'Expecto Patronum' if he remembered rightly, 'I await a guardian' as it were, you were also supposed to think of a happy memory to go along with it.

Taking his wand from its holster and holding it before him, Fran and Liz making sure they were behind him, Harry focused on anything and everything that made him happy. He thought of Stheno and Euryale, the first two people he could remember caring for him. He recalled Alysa, the snake that saw him as her own hatchling. Harry's mind wandered to Zelretch and Waver, two more members of his family. He thought of Altrouge, Arcueid, Aoko and so many more. Harry focused on all those that he cared for, all those that had helped him be who he was now, those that had shaped him, those that supported him and he poured prana into his wand in preparation of the spell he was about to cast.

"Expecto Patronum!" For once, Harry didn't whisper the spell. This was something that deserved to be spoken aloud, it was the form that all his feelings and care for his family would take, it was to be a guardian to protect him from beings that drained happiness and, supposedly, his soul.

The three of them were blinded by the bright white light that erupted from the tip of his wand but the effect didn't end there. From the tower that Harry had taken over, where he was now, the wave of magic spread outwards like the pressure wave of an explosion. It was almost lunch time and several people were already there, Dumbledore amongst them, and they all looked up as a wave of joy and happiness washed over them.

Others could feel it as well as Snape could attest as he looked up from what he was doing in his dungeon, his eyebrow quirked in curiosity before noticing the time and deciding that he'd best head off to the Great hall to eat. Out on the grounds, Arcueid and Hagrid both felt the magic wash over them and Arcueid felt something familiar in it, something that reached out to her. The others that Harry had focused on also felt the wave of magic and the same sense of familiarity that Arcueid had felt.

It was about fifteen minutes later when everyone was gathered in the Great Hall for lunch that they found out what had happened. Zelretch knew as he had returned a few minutes previously to drop off that monkey corpse he'd promised and his eyes had sparkled with amusement as he decided to get there early. No one else knew what had happened though Dumbledore seemed to have an idea at least of what was going on, the magic had yet to fade and the pure joy and happiness in it indicated one spell in particular.

The soft padding of of paws on stone alerted everyone to whatever was coming and as one they turned to the large double doors as whatever it was came around the corner. It was large, that was instantly obvious, a horse would look small next to it and it was well muscled. It was white, so white that it seemed to be literally glowing. It padded forwards on four strong legs and everyone could see the nails on its paws looked rather sharp, the teeth in its mouth also looked rather pointy too. They all noticed the red eyes of the beast before them.

"I thought that I left Primate Murder back home." Altrouge mused and the majority of the local wizards looked at her in horror, she had something to do with this monstrosity?

"I believe you did." A voice said from the glowing white wolf's direction. "But you cannot deny that she makes a wonderful guardian." They then noticed that Harry Potter was sat astride the beast's back and looked rather amused by it all. "Besides which, this isn't Primate Murder."

"Harry," Dumbledore said, his voice rather faint. "Is this your attempt at that spell I mentioned recently?" He asked. If it was, well, it was simply something else.

"You mean the patronus charm? Yeah, I didn't expect it to be quite this solid though." Harry replied and the professors eyed the giant white wolf again, this was a patronus?

"Can someone tell me what a patronus is? I'm guessing that whatever that is isn't exactly normal." Hermione said before mumbling "But when has Harry ever made any sense?"

A flash from Dumbledore's direction and soon an ethereal white-blue phoenix was soon flying around the hall. It looked far less substantial than what Harry was sat on, it looked like a slightly more solid ghost. Hermione raised a hand to it but she went right through the patronus as if it wasn't there.

"That is what a corporeal patronus is supposed to be like." Dumbledore told them. "It is a wizard's only defence against beings such as dementors and lethifolds. It is a magical construct made purely from happy thoughts bound together with magic, something that dementors feed on but cannot touch when in such a state. It is supposed to act as a shield between a wizard and his target, the stronger ones can actually drive them away, but that is something else."

Fred and George Weasley had already gotten up from the table and were examining the patronus. They proved that it was most definitely solid when Fred tried to tickle one of the paws and got knocked flat on his backside for the effort, they all laughed it off though so it was all good.

"Well I guess we can't chalk it up to Harry's weirdness when it comes to spirits if they can touch it too." Waver said which got a few people's attention.

"Excuse me?" Dumbledore said. "What weirdness about spirits are you on about?"

Harry decided to answer that and called out. "Hey, Helena!" Said ghost looked up at him. "Want to go for a ride?" Harry asked and she laughed before standing up and walking over towards the hybrid sat on his patronus.

The wizards who didn't know about Harry being able to touch ghosts watched open mouthed as she raised an arm towards Harry who grabbed onto it and hauled her up behind him on his patronus. She sat side saddle and wrapped one arm around harry to maintain her balance.

"You just touched a ghost!" Hermione shouted. "That's impossible, no one can touch a ghost. There aren't even any spells that can affect ghosts beyond banishing them temporarily."

"I'm just weird like that." Harry told her. It was true after all, spirit was his element and that wasn't something that was particularly common. Harry was particularly amused to see that Ginevra Weasley was now glaring at Helena who had an arm around his waist, the silly little girl probably thought that she'd never have a ghost for competition. Not that there was a competition, Harry really wasn't all that interested in girls that way yet and even if he was Weaselette definitely wouldn't even be a competitor.

"That's all well and good," Dumbledore said. "but could you please dismiss it so we can eat our lunch please." He wasn't reassured when Harry gave a nervous little laugh and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, you see," Oh boy, Dumbledore really didn't want to know how this was going. "I kinda can't dismiss it, it seems to exist by itself now." The adults blinked at that, a spell would end when it was no longer being fuelled so what was keeping this going?

Getting down from the glowing version of Primate Murder, and wouldn't this make an excellent night light, Harry walked over to the table with the glowing white wolf following him. Dumbledore decided to see how this big wolf thing was still here and got up to cast a few spells at it.

"Harry, this was cast with your wand, wasn't it?" He asked, he had to make sure that this wasn't another example of the boy's weird wandless magic. Harry nodded in reply to Dumbledore's question who asked another.

"Where is your wand now?" If he could get the wand far enough away from the patronus then, without something nearby to anchor it to then it would fade. "The spell might break if they are separated far enough.

Harry nodded again and took his wand from its holster on his wrist. "This guy is following me wherever I go so could someone else take this and run with it for me?" he asked.

Arcueid laughed as Zelretch took the wand from him and then vanished in front of everyone. Hermione took exception to that, everyone else seemed rather stunned too.

"You can't apparate inside of Hogwarts!" She said. "It's in Hogwarts: A History!" Harry wasn't so sure about that and a quick mental conversation with Lady Hogwarts told him that, while there were anti-apparition wards up around the school, she could allow apparition if she wanted to. She also told him that the anti-portkey ward should really be extended as it only reached the castle walls and didn't cover the grounds.

"That wasn't apparition Hermione." Harry told her, amusement in his voice.

"Oh, really?" She replied, it was quite amusing to hear sarcasm in her voice. "Is this the same kind of not apparition that is where the giant squid isn't a squid?"

Harry smirked at her. "What squid?"

Hermione seemed on the verge of tearing her hair out as Flitwick looked at Harry, he probably noticed his amusement and thought there was more behind it than simply denying it existed.

"Could you elaborate Mr. Potter? I assume that Miss Granger refers to the giant squid in the lake and if we don't have a squid then what is that large creature that inhabits the lake?" the diminutive Charms professor asked.

"You mean the kraken?" Harry asked and was rewarded with silence, well, silence if you excepted the noise of several people choking on their food and drink when they realised what he had just said.

"A kraken?" Hermione asked weakly, was it really that simple? She had thought that Harry had simply been messing with her, just not in that way.

"Yep, a kraken." He said, smiling. "if you go and look up the two creatures then you will notice the difference between them, differences which will show you that the giant squid is in fact a kraken."

Hermione seemed to have realised something at that point. "So you really were teaching it morse code and sign language? I thought that you were just messing with me." At this several people looked in amusement at the black and purple haired boy as his grin grew wider.

"Is it still here?" Zelretch asked as he suddenly appeared behind Hermione making her jump. He took one look at the huge glowing white dog behind Harry and shook his head. "I'll take that as a yes then. Harry, I hereby forbid you from casting the patronus spell until you find a way to get rid of it." Harry just shrugged, completely unrepentant.

The meal continued, it was much more subdued than the previous day had been where there had been so much more energy available with Harry's enthusiastic greeting of family and friends. The giant white wolf which lay behind Harry's chair was also getting many looks and Harry himself had a few particular thoughts about it.

One, it was comforting having it there. A patronus is like a magical construct made from happy thoughts all bound together and just being near one, especially powerfully cast ones, would confer a sense of contentment on someone. Two, it was bloody big. Harry had had to be rather _creative_ in the manner that he'd gotten it out of his workshop. It was this that made him wonder if it was the exact same size as the real Primate Murder and how the two of them would interact of they ever met. Three, he really shouldn't have been stupid enough to cast a spell and pour so much prana into it. Harry had a feeling that the only reason his patronus was still around was because of his element and origin, Spirit and Being, had somehow made it its own anchor or something like that. It was pretty cool regardless of that though.

Once the meal was over, everyone disappeared to do their own thing, seemed to be focused on one of his projects and all those who'd come to see him, his family and friends, knew that there was little that could distract him when he really got focused on something. The three Slytherins left for their common room, none of them had really interacted much with the others so far. Fred and George disappeared somewhere to talk with Zelretch and Euryale, for some reason Helena tagged along with them. The others all found things to occupy with themselves and they whiled away the day.

xxxxx

It was late evening and Severus was in his own quarters and looking over _Potions Quarterly,_ a magazine for Potions masters and enthusiasts. Right then he was thinking about several things, things that revolved around one Harry James Potter.

First was the boy's parents. James Potter had been an arrogant arsehole for his first six years of Hogwarts and even in his seventh year, after his parents died, he never really lost that part of himself. While skilled in transfiguration, Potter had not been a particularly good student. He never applied himself and it was all raw talent and nothing else that allowed him to succeed in school, he had been happy to get EE grades and never pushed himself academically to get any O grades. No, James Potter's primary concern had been pranks and while Severus could admit that they were good at them, it didn't really help the Gryffindor boy achieve anything worthwhile. It was a completely different story with the man's son.

Lily Potter had been a sweet girl, that was until you angered her however. She had been beautiful with flowing red hair that fell to her mid-back and everyone, pureblood, half-blood and muggle-born had a crush on her whether they'd admit it or not. Lily wasn't an air-headed beauty though, far from it. She applied herself and, with a little help from himself, became a rather good potions brewer and she had talent of her own in charms. All of Lily's grades had been EE or O, most of them the latter, and she actually worked to achieve those scores. While her son did push himself to achieve, he was not much like Lily either.

Second on his list of things to think about was the gift he'd received last year. It had been a surprise to Severus to see that bottle amongst his small pile of gifts, the note with it had been most curious too. Harry had sent him a bottle of venom, there was a stasis charm on it to keep it fresh too which was a little unusual.

He'd found out the purpose of the stasis charm though as he'd poured a little of the venom out and, when tested, noticed that while it was quite possibly the most toxic substance he'd ever heard of, even exceeding basilisk venom, it quickly lost its potency when left alone. He had tried to find out what sort of creature the venom could belong to and come up blank.

He'd managed to narrow it down to snakes and then to magical snakes, that was rather obvious really. After that he'd become quite stumped. The sample had been freshly drawn, perhaps within a day or two of sending it, but the creature it belonged to had to be at least several millennia old. He'd found nothing that could match up to it and was most curious about whatever the substance was. He'd kept it on hand, you never knew when you'd need something like that after all.

Third was Harry shrugging off that bite from Draco's snake. He had already noted how that amount of venom could have killed a human many times over. Hell, even a werewolf with their heightened resistance to disease and poison would have been killed multiple times over and even vampires would have been severely affected. Not Harry though, he simply dismissed it like it hadn't even happened. He couldn't think of anything that would allow someone to do that, it was simply inconceivable.

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. He looked at the clock, it was quite late, who would call at this time? Opening the door revealed the boy he'd just been thinking about. Severus raised an eyebrow, there was a fair amount of blood on Harry's clothing but he didn't look particularly concerned about it.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He asked, a question with a rather obvious answer really, why else would he knock on the door.

"Yes actually," Harry replied. "I was hoping you'd come with me to dose the heir of Slytherin with veritaserum."

Severus had to blink at that rather blunt request. Did he really think that he'd found whoever the heir was? It was then that Severus once again focused on the blood staining the boy's clothes. Harry it seemed noticed what he was looking at though.

"This isn't human blood on me, it's monkey blood. It would be rather difficult to dose the heir in the state it was in beforehand so I had to add some things to it. I know the laws regarding veritaserum and they don't actually apply to non-humans so there is no need to worry there either." Harry told him, he seemed really unconcerned with some of the ethics regarding what he'd just said and what he'd implied but Severus wasn't exactly a model member of society either.

"Don't you think you should be telling this to the headmaster?" He asked. He wasn't really against what Harry was proposing but he was curious why he came directly to him about it.

"The headmaster likes to keep secrets. There is also the fact that, headmaster or not, we'd still have to come to you for the potion. I've started brewing some myself and it is supposed to take a full lunar cycle, that's providing I've actually brewed it properly." Severus could agree with that and thought about it for a moment, he was most certainly curious.

"Wait here a minute." He said as he turned back into his quarters and retrieved a vial of the potent truth serum. Coming back to the door, he looked at Harry and said. "Very well, let us go."

He had been expecting Harry to lead him wherever this 'heir' was being kept, probably being restrained by his family or friends. What he wasn't expecting was for the world to shift around him and return as a completely different room.

The suddenly changing surroundings unnerved him slightly, that hadn't been like apparition, portkeys, floo or any other form of magical travel that he was aware of. Perhaps it was what that man Zelretch had done earlier when Harry had given him his wand.

Severus took a moment to look around at his new surroundings. The room wasn't particularly large but it wasn't a broom cupboard either, reasonable was perhaps the best description of it. There appeared to be no door and no windows in there and a quick detection spell showed him the ventilation charms that kept the air fresh. Lighting was provided with several glowing runes in the ceiling that allowed him to look around.

In two corners of the room were two suits of armour, both of them seemed focused on the wall directly in front of Severus. Discarded in a corner was a mutilated monkey carcass, it's head removed along with several other things by the look of it, there was a diary or journal of some kind next to it.. The room in general looked rather bare apart from a few blood stains here and here, the walls looked like they were a cream colour and the ceiling was painted white and that was pretty much it.

The one thing that didn't follow that rule though was what was directly in front of him, he supposed that this is what the suits of armour had been focused on. It looked like a scarecrow with its size but was more like a man-sized straw doll. It seemed to be pinned to the wall with manacles, chains and sticking charms, rather excessive for a doll really but its face was the most attention grabbing part of it.

He saw what the monkey's head had been used for. The upper and lower jaw was on the front of where the straw person's mouth would be, complete with teeth, tongue and lips. The vocal cords and part of the throat was connected to that and both of them were connected, by what looked like exposed nerves, to a lump of pink and grey flesh in a bowl that was probably the brain. The brain was in the bowl and in a solution of some sort that made Severus nose twitch though he couldn't quite describe it. On either side of the straw head were the ears that connected to the brain as well, the eyes seemed to be completely missing though.

"What is that?" He asked. He didn't expect the straw thing to respond though.

"Who's there? Who approaches me?" it asked and Severus' eyes widened with horror, what was this thing? Was it alive? Was it a person? He looked at Harry who simply looked really pissed off at it. The boy held out a hand and without thinking, Severus put the vial of veritaserum in it. He watched as Harry stalked forward and force fed the _thing_ three drops of potion.

"What is your full name?" He asked, spat might be more accurate. Whatever the thing was, Harry was obviously not happy with it.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle." The straw thing replied in a monotone.

"What titles or pseudonyms have you used?" Harry asked again.

"You-Know-Who, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, The Dark Lord and Lord Voldemort." the straw figure replied.

Severus was taken aback, this was him? This construct that Harry had put together was the Dark Lord? He shot a look at Harry, the boy looked really unhappy with it so it was doubtful that he was trying to bring him back to life.

"What are you? What method has prevented your death?" Harry demanded and Severus looked up in curiosity, this could answer so many questions.

"I am a horcrux, that is what prevents my final death." Severus had never heard of a horcrux before so it must be some pretty obscure magic.

"What is a horcrux? How is it made and how can it be destroyed?" Harry asked.

"A horcrux is a fragment of a soul torn from the whole. It is made using a specific ritual and the death of someone innocent. It can be destroyed by things that are beyond magical repair and can overcome the natural resistance to damage all horcruxes possess." So that was how he had survived a decade ago!

"How many horcruxes exist for Tom Riddle?" Harry questioned.

"I do not know. I became separate from the whole when I was created and as such have no means of knowing what the greater self knows, the plan was to create six though. A seven part soul was to be the perfect defence." The fragment of Voldemort replied.

It went on and on, Harry questioned him on everything from the ritual required to create horcruxes to what he knew of his own birth parents. Severus noticed a slight reaction from Harry when the name Merope Gaunt came up, the name of a village also came up, Little Hangleton, and he made a note of that as well. The questions went into the orphanage that Riddle grew up in, what relevance this had was lost on Severus though it was always a good idea to know your enemy. The veritaserum had to be applied three more times but Severus didn't care right then, he would never have expected to have such an opportunity available for it.

The questions eventually turned to what had happened recently. They found out that it was Ginevra Weasley who had brought the diary to Hogwarts, apparently she had found it in her cauldron. The mention of the diary made Severus' eyes dart back to the corner where the remains of the monkey corpse lay next to just such a book. A quick spell showed magic residue there but no active magic any longer.

The soul fragment told them how the idiot girl had spilled everything she could to the diary and how the diary had latched onto her and started to take over her mind, to make her its puppet. Things had been tense when Harry had asked whether there would be any permanent effect but the diary said it had yet to get a good enough hold to make any permanent changes.

Eventually the questions turned to the Chamber of Secrets itself. Severus noticed that Harry didn't ask for its location, he'd probably found it already. The ward over the entrance was supposed to alert Tom to the fact that someone had found the entrance and to be extra careful, nothing more. It confirmed that the 'horror within' was a basilisk and that it seemed to obey any parselmouth whether they were a descendant of Salazar Slytherin or not, the doll did say that it wouldn't reveal that under normal circumstances though.

When it was over and done with, Harry placed one hand on the straw doll and pulled back. Severus watched on in interest as something seemed to be pulled out of the straw doll. It was a grey colour and looked rather slimy. It looked like a slug with roots coming off of it. The large part, the slug, was in Harry's hand as he pulled away from the straw doll and the root like things seemed to be embedded in it quite firmly.

Harry seemed to be sweating a bit as he pulled harder and some of the root-like things came loose from the straw figure as Harry took another step backwards, pulling harder on the thing in his hand. It took another minute and a half before all of it came loose, whatever it was, and Harry looked at Severus and raised the thing in his hand up.

"One soul fragment, ready for destruction." He said as he took a grip on it with both hands and started ripping it into pieces, he'd conjured a bucket and the pieces were going into that.

"Any experience casting fiendfyre, professor?" the black and purple haired boy asked casually. "No? I suppose it's not a particularly common spell. Let's see what I can do myself then." Harry held his hands over the bucket as he began one of those weird incantations again.

**My soul is a weapon,**

**imbued with fire to devour my target,**

**let nothing impede it,**

**let no obstacle prevent it,**

**I bestow final destruction upon you,**

**may your soul be no more.**

Severus watched as one of those orbs Harry had become known for appeared, one filled with fire. He watched as the fire first got hotter and hotter, he was sure that it would now match a muggle furnace before the flames drastically changed colour. With the the last two lines of the incantation spoken, the fire turned black and Severus could no longer feel any heat from hit but Harry now wore the fire like a glove over his left hand.

It was rather creepy to watch Harry's hand, clothed in black flames, descend into the bucket and come into contact with what was obviously a fragment of Voldemort's soul. He knew when it made first contact as a penetrating and unearthly screech hit his ears. It was beyond anything he'd heard before and, struggling against the barrage of noise, he cast a silencing charm around himself.

Looking up when the noise was silenced, Severus saw Harry with his teeth gritted together as he continued with his destruction of the soul fragment he had before him. How Harry managed to withstand it, Severus really didn't want to know. It took several minutes for it to be done with, several agonising minutes as he watched the black fire get a grip on each bit of the soul piece and trace out a network of vein like patterns in black fire before consuming the soul fragment and leaving nothing behind.

Once it was done, Harry sat back against a wall as he considered what he had just done. He had quite literally annihilated a soul piece belonging to Lord Voldemort, or Tom Riddle as he began to think of him. He didn't care about the man that he now was and he didn't care about the child he had been but just listening to that soul fragment's wailing as it was destroyed had shaken him a bit. He'd tried to buff his fire orb up a bit with the aria, he'd wanted something to burn away the soul and by heck had he gotten it.

Harry looked at the remains in the room, the straw doll and the bits of monkey attached to it, the monkey corpse and the diary. He looked up at Snape who had removed the silencing charm and was looking at the bucket, the bucket that had previously held the fragment of the Dark Lord's soul.

"Do you think you could tidy up a bit, professor?" Harry asked him, indicating the mess that had been left around the room.

That seemed to bring Snape back to the present and he got on with vanishing the remains as well as the blood stains around the room and on Harry himself, at least he now knew where it had come from.

Harry waited a moment before climbing to his feet. "I think that the chamber can be left for another day for now, it would be best to get you back to your quarters, professor."

Snape nodded, still preoccupied by what had just happened. He didn't pay much attention to the sudden shifting of location and was completely out of it until he heard the door hinges at which point he looked up to see Harry going to leave.

"Aren't you going to prevent me spreading this information somehow?" He asked. Severus knew that Harry was smart and leaving him, someone that had been marked by the Dark Lord that he'd just questioned, alone wasn't exactly what he'd expected.

"Are you going to tell anyone?" Harry asked him.

"I want the Dark Lord gone, I made many mistakes and serving him was perhaps the biggest." Severus said. "I am not going to tell anyone who would prevent you doing as you no doubt will, you are going to try and track these soul fragments down aren't you?" Harry nodded, it didn't take a genius to work that out. "Aren't you worried though that I'd tell the headmaster? I know that you two don't exactly get along all the time and he would undoubtedly take a different path than the one you are in regards to these horcruxes."

"Are you going to tell the headmaster?" Harry asked, just the same as before.

Severus thought about it. When he'd left Voldemort's service, he'd thought that Dumbledore would accept him, help him. Instead he had used Severus, it had been so painful to play the part of spy, a spy that both sides thought was theirs. Here was Harry giving him complete freedom to do as he pleased with highly critical information and yet Snape didn't actually know what to do with it. He knew that he wasn't going to go hunting them down, it was far too risky and he knew that Dumbledore would wan to study them for one reason or another. Perhaps it was best that Harry be left alone to do this task, he would probably involve his family but they could very well have resources that he didn't.

Looking up at Harry, Severus spoke aloud. "No, I wont. It would seem that you are the best chance of all of them getting destroyed." Harry turned to leave again but Severus called out to him once more. "After something like that, I think that we are a little beyond titles. Outside of a classroom, feel free to call me Severus."

Harry looked back over his shoulder to the Potions professor and nodded his head. "I think it goes without saying that you may call me Harry but, regardless of that, I'll say it anyway. Feel free to call me Harry, Severus Snape." Harry left the room, leaving a smirking Severus behind him. It was then that the man remembered what he'd been thinking about before he'd been interrupted. It looked like he had a few extra things to think about now.

xxxxx

He had wondered how long it would take. Harry found that, when they were close enough together, he and the Gorgon sisters ended up sharing a bed together like they had since he was five years old. It was comfortable and it was familiar, two things which meant that he didn't care what other people thought about it. So, for the first night in a few months, Harry slept in a Hogwarts bed that wasn't in his tower.

For some reason Liz had said that he was welcome to sleep with her and Fran had said the same, both of them had seen how Harry didn't mind sleeping with his sisters and how little it mattered to him. Liz thought that he'd make an excellent teddy bear and Fran agreed with her.

Harry was something completely knew to them, he accepted them as they were. When she'd been created, Fran had been looked upon with disgust, fear and hatred. Despite her initially shy nature and reserved character, no one could fail to notice her metallic limbs and her non-organic body parts. She had thought that her creator had to have loved her, why would he make her if he hadn't? She had declared herself completely to the man who had made her and he had been scared by it and had taken her apart. It was very painful and it took a long time for her to piece herself back together, something that she wished to never have to do again.

Once she had managed to put herself back together, she had tracked down her creator. She had followed her instincts and had found his home. It had been the journey between the two though that had a great impact on her, it had been when she realised that, no matter how she wished otherwise, she was a monster. She realised that humans would never accept her as she was, they would forever see her as something to be wary of if not feared.

When she had found her creator, he had been so happy with his family. It just wasn't fair, he had made her and then abandoned her and now he was here playing happy family! She had been enraged at that and killed them, her creator the only one who managed to escape her and she once again followed him as he headed north. Eventually he took his own life and, with nothing left to her at all, she had drowned herself to end it all.

When she had been summoned she had expected someone who would either take advantage of her abilities, her strength or her potential as a scare tactic or someone who would completely reject her. She had gotten neither, her master was Harry. He was someone who declared himself a monster and he believed it, she had been so curious about him once the initial summoning had been over. He had not cared for her metal parts, he counted them just the same as her organic ones and he had even once said that she was cute. No one had ever called her cute before and she really took to him, the more she found out about him the more he appealed to her.

Right now she didn't really see him as a master. Oh, she would obey him if he ordered her to do something but he wasn't likely to do that. She saw him more as a brother? Friend? Something else? She didn't know what she saw him as but she was forever glad that he was the one who had summoned her, she doubted she would find a better master in anyone else.

For Lancer it was less about accepting her existence as it was accepting her as a person. She was born into a noble house, one that had dragon blood in its heritage. The dragon blood had expressed itself in her with her demonic looking claws, fangs, horns and tail. She had lived in the lap of luxury, whatever she wanted was hers for the taking and her family was far from model citizens.

Her close relatives included paedophiles and homosexuals, the latter being a worse thing then than it was today, and she herself was a Satanist. She had simply been one amongst many then, someone that wasn't deemed significant, she would have grown up doing as she pleased, got married off, produced an heir and died.

It was a rather unhappy life despite having anything she could ever want because she could demand less material things. You couldn't buy love you couldn't purchase happiness or barter for joy. When she had found that her maid's blood made her skin smoother she hadn't thought twice about making use of it, in those days the humans who weren't nobles weren't considered 'human' and no one had ever told her no.

She had killed and killed and killed again, she managed to gain a body-count of over six hundred women. She tortured them as well, it wasn't as if they were human after all so why should she care? Eventually she started to go after the daughters of aristocracy and it was only then that she was reprimanded.

In 1611 she was imprisoned in a single room of her own castle, a room that had only one small slit to allow food to be passed into it. Her room was walled in and plastered over and that was how she spent the remainder of her days. She didn't know that what she had done was wrong, to her it was a life 'without any unusual events'. She had questioned it right until the end, her final question had been 'why?' because, to her knowledge, she had done nothing wrong.

It had been rather frightening, sealed inside one room for three years and she had grown to hate it. She really didn't like the dark she really didn't like being lonely. When she had felt herself being summoned she had so hoped that she would never have to remain in a single room ever again, especially not all by herself.

She often sat in the corner of either Harry's or Fran's room when she couldn't sleep just so she wasn't alone, more often the latter than the former considering how little he slept. She had entered there once when she couldn't sleep and had thought that he would be asleep too only to find him awake.

She had sat with him on his bed and he had held her in his arms to still her shaking, she didn't like the darkness and she didn't like the loneliness. When she had come to this day and age she had been determined to never end up like that again, she wanted people to pay attention to her so she would never be alone, she acted so hyperactive despite being so scared and sad inside but now she was much happier.

She had expected her master to be a lecher or a snooty noble, she had dealt with them before in her life but Harry was something different. He certainly was nobility in the wizarding world, the Potters were an old family after all, but he never acted like nobles of her time did. He was fairly easy going as long as she didn't do anything to inconvenience other people he cared about, that hadn't been a difficult task, and he was someone who paid attention to her.

He had taught both of them about the modern world, the basics of human rights, even if Harry thought calling them human rights a bit narrow-minded, and had taught them anything they'd asked of him. If he didn't know the answer to something they'd asked him then he looked it up, he did it for them.

She'd been initially wary of him, waiting for the other shoe to drop as it were, but she had definitely warmed up to him and was thankful that it had been he who summoned her. She could not think how it could be better if anyone else summoned her and was looking forward to whatever life she would live with her master, Harry, by her side.


	29. From the Chamber to Luna

AN: Next chapter will be Christmas day then polyjuice me thinks. I'm finding it a little difficult to think about how this year will end seeing as how the whole chamber thing is now resolved. I suppose there is getting rid of Lockhart left, proving Hagrid innocent, freeing Dobby, Hermione's idiocy and possibly a few other things but I don't envision taking up much typing space so if there is anything that you guys wish to see happen over the next couple of months story time then please tell me, I need inspiration. I also need to spend less time on Tickled, I get too easily distracted by it.

As always my forum can be found either on my profile or here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 29 – From the Chamber to Luna

Twinkling eyes observed Harry at breakfast the next morning.

To be honest, this Harry was something of a surprise. He was normally so unapproachable, so distant, so anti-social. To see that boy turn into this vibrant and happy child was simply amazing, it was something that almost brought a tear to Albus' eye.

He had initially thought that such people, those outside his sphere of influence, would be bad for him but, oh, how he was wrong. He could see all the love and care that they all felt for one another, it was like one big, happy family with Harry at the centre of it.

There were quite distinct groups in it, the two purple haired girls being one, the two red-eyed girls being another, the old man, the younger one and the Japanese woman being a third, but if Harry was there then they could all connect with each other easily.

He watched as Harry fed that black cat on his shoulder something off his plate. That cat was always there, always with Harry and usually on his shoulder too. Len, he believed she was called, had become like a part of Harry, as constant as his shadow. Some of the professors had even managed to forget that she was there, merely thinking of her as part of Harry himself.

His eyes fell on the rather large wolf patronus that was sat behind Harry and his brows furrowed. He'd heard what that girl, Altrouge, had called it and he was a little concerned. A patronus took the form of someone or something that made the caster feel safe and protected, a being called Primate Murder didn't exactly spring to the forefront of his mind so why would it be Harry's?

His gaze shifted to the two red-eyed females that were sniping at each other, he could hear little heat in it though. Listening to the two of them was like listening to two teenage sisters, they would argue and disagree with each other on concept but they were family and all that entailed.

Oh? What was this? It seemed that Severus had been dragged into conversation with the man, Waver, and the woman, Aoko. That was most unusual, Severus was normally far from sociable. Wait, did Harry really just call Severus by his first name? Severus didn't respond except to call him Harry, when did those two become that informal with each other?

At that point, owls flew into the hall, one of them flying towards Draco Malfoy carrying a letter, another to Neville Longbottom and a few more scattered throughout the people present. It was interesting to note that the owls seemed to avoid Harry and the purple-haired girls, those three didn't seem particularly fond of the owls anyway.

It seemed Albus wasn't the only one to notice this though, miss Granger had been trying to pick up any information she could about him. It had been frightfully amusing to the old headmaster to watch the thirteen year old girl try to interrogate the woman Stheno only to have the conversation redirected with ease.

"Harry," The bushy-haired brunette said. "What is it with you and owls that they always seem to try and avoid you?"

"I'm not particularly fond of owls, it's more about what they symbolise than what they are though. Stheno and Euryale don't like them either." Harry replied, his gaze fixed on the nearest owl who seemed to be a little restless around him.

"Then how do you send letters? I know you do as I've seen you write them before." Hermione asked. Dumbledore's interest definitely perked when he felt a small pulse of magic from Harry who didn't reply immediately to the question.

Dumbledore had raised his eyebrows as Harry lifted one arm in the air only for a strange looking bird to land on it. The bird had the general shape of an eagle or some other raptor but, unlike a real bird, it seemed to be made of metal and jewels. In its chest there seemed to be a large ruby instead of a heart, its eyes were chips of emerald and small sapphires were on its wings.

"It's beautiful." Neville said before looking a little embarrassed. Hermione however started asking questions about it. She asked a number of questions, a surprising number of which Harry answered without comment, he was certainly more relaxed with his family around.

Dumbledore sat back once more as he watched everything going on around him. When Harry had thrown that comment at him after they'd questioned him, well, that had been a slap in the face, a slap that he had probably both deserved and needed. Looking at how happy Harry was now he made a silent promise to himself, he promised to try and look at the world with fresh eyes, untainted by the past and unfettered of the trials he had faced himself.

xxxxx

Once breakfast was over, Harry planned to go down to the Chamber of Secrets. He was going to go down with just Stheno and Euryale, they were going because of a snake after all, but it had been a little difficult to convince some of the others to allow them to go like that.

Fran and Liz had both said that they simply _had _to go down there with him, he was their master after all. Those two hadn't been the most difficult to convince though, he'd told them that, with Stheno and Euryale there, he had nothing to fear from a snake. Its eyes couldn't get past both his blindfold and his own mystic eyes and the venom wouldn't kill him.

The most difficult to convince though was Len, she had become like his shadow. Wherever Harry went, she was sure to be there. The only place that he went that she didn't was the bathroom, she actually went into the showers with him! She had been really clingy recently, it had been like he'd gained a second shadow, it was like Len had become another part of him. He had begun to only notice her when she wasn't there, that's how often she was with him.

The others had been easier to convince but they still impressed upon him the need to be careful. If this was their home reality then what they were doing was the equivalent of breaking into a magus' workshop, something that could be classified as slightly below suicidal, just slightly.

Zelretch had looked him in the eye and said to him. "Harry, you have become something irreplaceable to me. Don't get yourself killed and if thing s start to look grim, you are an apprentice of the Kaleidoscope so use it." He pulled Harry into a hug and passed him off to Aoko,

"Be careful down there, you hear me?" She said before also hugging him and passing him on to the Brunestud sisters who both hugged him, both told him to be careful and both intimated the unspeakable horrors they would unleash on him if he failed to return.

The others also expressed their desires to see him stay safe before they all left to see Harry, Stheno and Euryale off into the chamber. Harry found it rather comforting that so many people cared for him, heck, even his patronus nudged him with its nose!

Leading them all to the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets must have looked a bit odd to anyone who saw them, Harry was sure the portraits would have informed Dumbledore if Lady Hogwarts hadn't prevented them leaving their frames. Thinking of Lady Hogwarts, he really needed to give her a name or something, a way to identify her as separate from the castle she was a part of. Perhaps Holly was a good name, Hazel maybe or even Sarah? It was something to think about at least.

Myrtle wasn't in her bathroom. Why she wasn't there, Harry neither knew nor cared. With her gone though they could get on with what they were doing, going to down to the Chamber of Secrets.

Nobody reacted when Harry hissed at the sinks, they all knew about Harry's language skills. It would have been different if those gathered there had been wizards, parseltongue did have a rather negative reputation after all.

Looking down the open shaft, Harry was glad that he'd brought his broom with him. The pipe looked absolutely filthy, it was encrusted with a thousand years of grime and obviously hadn't been cleaned. It wasn't exactly the grand entrance he had expected it to be, perhaps there was another entrance elsewhere.

The broom was rather clustered with all three of them on it, Harry up front with Stheno behind him and Euryale behind her, the usually joking Gorgon sister was uncharacteristically serious right now. Harry was grateful that she was taking this seriously but it was rather strange to see her like this, a little unnerving as it were.

They left everyone else, even Harry's patronus, behind on the second floor as they started to fly down the large pipe. They heard the entrance seal behind them as they continued onwards, some of Harry's orbs lighting their way as they got closer and closer to the chamber.

It was a surprisingly long flight, he hadn't realised just how far down they would have to go, and the moisture around them suggested that they were getting rather close to the lake. On a whim, Harry used a little Structural Analysis on the damp wall and found that the lake was no more than three feet in that direction, it was a bit of a scary thought.

Harry followed the twists and turns in the pipes, always following the largest opening he could see. It would be rather amusing if he came across the basilisk like this, hovering in mid-air but that wasn't the main thing that had caught Harry's attention. The pipes around him, there were so many of them, they probably went all over the castle. It was like having an entire network of secret passageways, they really would be if Harry ever found out where they all ended up.

xxxxx

Harry's feet crunched on a small pile of bones beneath his feet, probably a rat or something. Looking around himself, Harry found that they'd landed in a large and damp passageway, another flash of Structural Analysis showed that the lake was literally above their heads. The stonework seemed to be a fairly worn, much more and it could easily collapse on top of them so Harry decided that they'd best take care.

They walked along the corridor, the three of them silent and so was the dark, gloomy passage through which they walked. Their footsteps echoed loudly around them, not helped by the wet floor. They made no effort to avoid the various small skeletons that littered the passageway, it would probably be an effort in futility anyway, so there was often a crunch of crumbling bone to accompany their wet, slapping footsteps.

The tunnel twisted back on itself several times, like the body of a serpent, and they carefully looked around any corners they came across. Harry's thoughts occupied by what lay ahead. Would the basilisk even be sane after so long alone? Would it be friendly? Did it agree with Riddle about muggle-borns? Was it the only basilisk here?

They came across what appeared to be a shed skin, it was a bit over twenty feet long and it was old. As old as the skin was, the longer the basilisk must be by now. Harry put one hand on the skin and analysed it, it was incredible, it was immensely tough and was highly resistant to magic whilst also being rather flexible. The poisonous green colour wasn't his favourite but Harry had nothing against lining his clothing with it, an idea that certainly had merit.

Deciding that he could pick up the skin later, the three of them carried on down the twisting passageway. They eventually arrived at a large round door which had two serpents set into it with large and flawless emeralds for eyes. It was quite an awe-inspiring sight, the door was a dark matte black which only served to make the silver snakes stand out more. With the faint wand-light they looked rather alive right then.

"_Open._" Harry once again said, and what an easy password it was. Harry had to wonder at that, just how rare were parselmouths that a simple password of 'open' was acceptable to the patron of the house of the cunning?

The door cracked open, the snakes on the door slithering out of the way, unlocking it. Each half slid into the walls and, once it was over with, it was like the passageway had never been blocked to begin with, the smooth walls showing no sign of the door that had sank into it.

They entered a long and dimly lit chamber. Pillars formed into entwined serpents rose from the floor to support the ceiling casting dark shadows in the greenish glow that pervaded the chamber. It looked like old Salazar had gone more for eerie than austere where this chamber was concerned, then again, this was supposed to be his personal place so he could decorate it how he wanted to.

Both Stheno and Euryale were at his sides, all three of them had a blade that they hoped they wouldn't have to use. Neither Stheno nor Euryale were magi but that didn't mean they were useless, far from it. With their target being a basilisk, there was no one else he'd rather have with him.

Walking towards the other end of the chamber, footsteps echoing around them, they all kept an eye out for the basilisk that should be down there. They found nothing until they reached the other end of the chamber where a statue, one that stood as tall as the chamber, waited for them.

The statue was ancient and monkey-like with a long, thin beard that almost reached his feet. Truth be told, it was a rather unflattering image and Harry wondered why Salazar had put such a thing here, most people wanted any statues or portraits of them to make them look their absolute best.

"Where does the basilisk stay?" Stheno asked, looking around carefully.

Harry indicated the statue's mouth. "According to that soul fragment, the mouth of the statue is supposed to open and that is where the basilisk stays when it isn't being commanded. The password, if you want to call it that, is a little more complicated than 'open' though. You need to mention both the words 'Slytherin' and 'Hogwarts' in one sentence that's at least ten Syllables long."

"That easy, is it?" Euryale asked.

Harry nodded. "Yes, our dear Dark Lord had a favourite one: _Speak to me Slytherin, Greatest of the Hogwarts' four!_" That last bit had been addressed to the statue of Slytherin and Euryale had to roll her eyes at it, talk about stroking someone's ego.

The three of them watched as the statues mouth opened, wider and wider until the opening was large enough that Harry was sure that he wouldn't be able to reach across, even if he was stood on Euryale's shoulders. They heard the basilisk stir within the black hole and watched as it came out, resulting in one rather weird thought from the three observers: How good a kisser was Slytherin?

They quickly shook this irrelevant, if rather amusing, question from their minds as the basilisk uncurled in front of them. It was a thing of beauty, the vivid green scales were certainly eye-catching and the snake was like one long muscle that shone even in the dim light of the chamber. When the snake did finally unfurl itself, they came face to face with its intense yellow eyes.

It seemed to regard them curiously for a moment. _"You aren't the most recent master."_ It said, she really as the voice was definitely feminine. "_Who are you?_" She asked. Harry looked at Stheno and Euryale before stepping forward.

"_I am Harry Potter and these are Stheno and Euryale._" He said to the snake which seemed to recognise the name. She came right up to Harry and examined him closely before looking to the two purple-haired women.

"_Harry Potter? The boy-master inside the girl mentioned you often. I think he wanted you dead but he seemed to want to know things about you first. It was rather odd to hear, he didn't seem to like you at all._" This conversation was going oddly, the basilisk's tone of voice was rather calm.

"_Oh? Did he give you any commands in regards to me?_" Harry asked warily, getting ready in case he needed to fight. The tension in the room went up and the basilisk regarded Stheno and Euryale for a moment before looking back at Harry, he could swear that she was almost smirking.

"_No, he seemed to think that only he could get down here. He was rather arrogant like that, stupid might also be applicable seeing as you don't seem to have come down here on a whim._" The basilisk looked curiously at Stheno and Euryale once more before returning to Harry. "_What are you anyway? You feel like snakes but you walk on two legs and I feel like I couldn't disobey those two no matter what I wanted._"

Harry considered it for a moment. "_What's to stop you from spilling anything we tell you to others?_" He asked the large magical snake who rolled her eyes at him, it was a rather weird experience.

"_Nothing._" The serpent said. "_Except for the fact that I can only talk to a parselmouth which, as you might know, are a little on the rare side. There's also the fact of someone actually paying attention to what I say and not going 'Oh no! A big snake, I'd better try and kill it'. Seriously, I'm not exactly surrounded by friends._" A sarcastic basilisk, this was fun. "_Besides that, no one can make me do anything except parselmouths, I'm kind of bound by spells Salazar Slytherin cast on my egg. The only way to overcome those spells is to willingly become someone's familiar and as that would require me to bite them their aren't exactly many volunteers._"

Harry smiled at the snake before looking at Stheno and Euryale, both of them seemed amused by this basilisk's sarcasm. "_What if there was someone who wouldn't be killed by your venom?_" He asked the snake who eyed him balefully.

"_The only counter to my venom is phoenix tears and that renders the familiar binding ineffective so if that was what you were thinking, it won't work._" The basilisk harrumphed. "_I would love to get out of here though, I barely remember the outside world from when I was fresh out of the egg. My entire world consists of this chamber, the pipes spread throughout the castle and that's about it. I want to be out in the fresh air, when I was a hatchling I actually wanted to fly._"

Harry's smile widened. "_I wasn't talking about phoenix tears. Your venom might hurt like a bitch but I'm sure I'd survive it, snake venom doesn't exactly do much against me. These two would also have no problem with it, they are the two elder Gorgon sisters after all._" That seemed to get the basilisk's attention.

"_You would be able to break the damnable bindings that Salazar placed on me? If it wasn't for them I would have left this castle centuries ago!_" The basilisk exclaimed. Harry looked between Stheno and Euryale with him.

"If you want to go through with it, Harry." Stheno told him.

"Your choice little brother." Euryale added.

Harry looked up at the basilisk who was looking at them in surprise. "_If we're going to do this then I would at least like to know your name._" He said.

The snake chuckled. "_Very well, little snake. I was never given a name by Salazar but I do think of myself as Sasha, let that be my name, one that I chose myself._" Harry grinned up at her despite the 'little snake' comment, he had a feeling that he would have some rather interesting conversations with Sasha in times to come.

Baring his left arm, removing the vambrace and the fingerless glove, Harry proffered his arm for Sasha to bite. As she let her venom spread through him, he would let his blood trickle down her throat and initiate the bond. It was rather different with his bonds to both his Heroic Spirits and Len but this was another world after all, they would obviously have different rules.

Sasha gently allowed Harry's pale arm to rest on her rough tongue as he placed his arm so that the fang wouldn't go through his elbow, adding a joint into all of this was just asking for trouble. Harry felt the point of Sasha's fang rest on his upper arm and braced himself for what was to come, the fang was as long and thin as a sabre.

It was instantly obvious when the fang pierced Harry's arm, the venom from Sasha's glands flooded his body, filling him with several pints of venom. It was agony, it might not kill Harry but it definitely damn well hurt him. He could feel it spread through his body, flooding his veins and setting his nerves on fire.

Harry didn't know how long he stood there, supported by Stheno and Euryale with their grip on his body and Sasha with his arm in her mouth. He knew that what was happening was painful, that was obvious, and it was only compounded by the fact that if this was to work then he couldn't take any pain relief potions or anything that would counteract the venom. He had to rely solely on his own resistance to snake venom and with a basilisk's, the most potent venom known to the wizarding world, this was beyond anything he'd ever experienced before.

In actuality it was somewhere around ten minutes later that it was all over. Harry could now feel Sasha's mind connected to his own and Sasha could feel his and, for the first time in her existence, she could no longer feel the binds that Salazar Slytherin had placed on her when she was still an egg.

Harry stumbled a bit but Sasha propped him up with the end of her tail and Harry gratefully took advantage of that. Deciding that they had best get out of here, Harry focused on the Kaleidoscope for a moment and all four of them disappeared only to reappear somewhere that Stheno and Euryale recognised.

"The shapeless isle! We haven't been here since we met you, Harry." Stheno said as she looked around the island, it looked pretty much the same as when they'd last been here. The rocky coast and the lush forested areas further in, the island was most certainly large enough for Sasha to be comfortable and there was still a bounded field up that prevented all but those who knew about it from coming there so no one was in any danger of Sasha accidentally killing them.

"That's true," Harry agreed with Stheno. "but I think it will do for a new home for Sasha here, at least for now. I think that I could probably purchase a flock of sheep and drop them here too so she has something to eat." Sasha snorted.

"_I survived of a few rats a year, sometimes less, when I was down in the chamber. I'm a magical beast and as such I don't exactly need to eat much. My species was created by wizards, they are smart enough to make us sustainable, our magic maximises what we get out of what we eat. A single sheep would last me a few years._" Sasha told them.

"Yeah but did they think up a way to protect themselves from your eyes, though?" Harry asked and was surprised when Sasha nodded.

"_I have two sets of transparent eye-lids, something that snakes don't usually have. When none of my eyelids are down, my eyes are fully lethal, with one set down they can petrify and with them both down anyone can look me in the eye without harm. It was unfortunate that the boy-master, Riddle, commanded me to have both eyelids open when not in his presence, I still managed to avoid killing when I could._" She replied.

"Why?" Harry asked, curious.

"_Why? Because I wanted to live. Can you imagine what wizards would have done to me if I went around killing everyone? No, much better to petrify them and not give wizards any reason to actively hunt me down. I may not be fond of humans but you could quite easily exploit my weakness. All it would have taken was one transfigured cockerel and it would have been all over for me, another fail-safe the wizards put into my kind._" Harry refrained from making the comment that perhaps the olden times wizards were a mite bit more sensible than the modern variety.

They decided to leave Sasha alone for now, she wanted to explore her knew home. Stheno and Euryale eyed Harry warily at one point, Sasha said that she wished she could fly and the thoughtful look on Harry's face made them curious what he was thinking, Harry did like a challenge after all.

xxxxx

They returned to the second floor girl's bathroom to find everyone still waiting for them. They noticed the mark on Harry's arm that was sure to develop into a scar and asked about it, no one was surprised how he had gotten it. In fact, no one was surprised the basilisk was female, they said things about it being common sense when Harry got involved, he wondered why that was.

Harry's patronus was beginning to unnerve even him though with the way it acted like a puppy, nuzzling him when he came back and skipping about in joy. It was a rather bizarre sight to see, something that looked like Primate Murder acting that way. Harry just decided to try and think of some way to get rid of it, it was large and got in the way.

The days after that were filled with fun and amusement, Zelretch actually had collaborated with the Weasley twins some and with input from Euryale, and surprisingly Helena of all people, everyone had to be on their toes over the Christmas holidays.

There had been that memorable incident when they'd applied a charm to the doors to the Great Hall so that if two people passed through it they'd have to kiss, Harry had a picture of Draco Malfoy having to kiss Gregory Goyle which was going in his blackmail folder.

There had been another incident, this one mostly Helena, that had brightly coloured birds following people around and singing songs at random, Euryale's yellow bird had been given Sneaky Snake by Tom. T. Hall. Somehow they'd gotten the song Monster by Skillet for Harry's black and red bird, how they got a song from a future time-line he didn't want to know. Dumbledore's white and gold bird singing the imperial march was rather amusing though.

Another incident that involved the resident pranksters was they'd managed to slip a multitude of things into the food, Harry was sure that even they didn't know what was in what. Harry avoided that one because of his habitual analysing of whatever he was going to eat or drink, others weren't as careful though.

Aoko could only speak in sonnets for a day, Dumbledore's hair and beard were turned pink and had flowers growing in them, Flitwick could only purr like a cat, Babbling's eyes now glowed in the dark, Ron Weasley had a small arming of enlarged chess men following him wherever he went and Arcueid had roller-skates attached to her feet.

All in all, it was a rather entertaining time. There were several things that Harry hadn't expected and one of them had come from the shortest professor at Hogwarts. It had been rather odd when professor Flitwick had asked to speak with him one day but Harry had listened regardless.

xxxxx

"You wished to see me, professor?" Harry asked, entering the office of Ravenclaw's head of house. Surprisingly, it wasn't wall to wall shelves full of books. Oh, there were several shelves with books on them but they didn't take over the room.

There was a large case full of trophies, medals and awards with the name Filius Flitwick on them, no doubt the proof of his experience in duelling. The furniture in the room was regular sized, only Flitwick's chair being altered to account for the man's size.

"Yes, yes I did. Mr. Potter, Harry if I may." Harry nodded, he didn't mind Flitwick using his first name. "Harry, after your display against Dumbledore I believe you to be eligible for the international duelling tournament. With your, and your guardian's, permission I would like to put your name forward for it."

"What would happen over the course of the tournament?" Harry asked, he was curious about it and he was quite happy to compete, he was sure that Stheno would give him permission.

"Well the tournament is a week long, it lasts from Monday the twenty-sixth of July to Friday the thirtieth this coming summer. There would be a match each day, the first round is a free-for-all between eight competitors from which only one emerges, the second day would try and match up people of the same nationality, the third would be a two versus two match, the fourth would be the semi-finals and the fifth would be the final. There are one hundred and twenty-eight places available and I am willing to put your name forwards for it." Flitwick told him.

"Do you really think I'm eligible, professor? I didn't exactly duel professor Dumbledore, it was more freestyle than that." Harry asked.

"Exactly. The linear style of duelling went out of fashion internationally more than a decade ago. Duels held these days are on circular platforms and are much larger than the platform you and the headmaster used. There is also the fact that, as long as it isn't illegal, you can take whatever you wish on stage with you. I think that someone once brought a pre-prepared summoning circle with him, couldn't activate it quick enough though and he lost but it was ingenious anyway." That made Harry pay attention.

He could imagine how the ofuda that he was in the process of making, with ink from the kraken, could be useful in a real duel. He thought that this international duelling tournament would be a great way to test his creations, it would certainly give some good field results. He could perhaps add a few of his potions to his arsenal, they would act very similar to grenades and could cause all sorts of effects, mixing potions and his ofuda together would get him results like flash-bangs and concussion grenades, the potential was there at least.

"I have noticed the way you duel and have several... less common spell books that may prove useful to you." Flitwick told Harry. "This one is about inanimate to animate transfiguration and modifying it, this one has some more aggressive hexes and curses and this one, well, I think you might like to take a look at it." Harry looked at the three books that Flitwick handed to him, the first and second seemed fairly straight forward but the last one caught his eye especially. The third tome that Flitwick had given him was titled _'Curiosities and Mysteries: Spells without restraint'_. He flicked his wrist to open it and found a rather curious spell before flicking through it a little more.

The spells in the book did the most random of things, from turning someone's hair into snakes to making their feet smell of lavender, from forcing them to dance to switching the thumbs on either hand but there were several that definitely caught his eye.

There was one spell that he'd flicked through that transfigured something into an animated stone warrior that obeyed the caster, it was a derivative of golem creation. There was another spell that caused the ground to undulate, something that would throw people of balance. There was another spell, an enchantment, which caused a blade to maintain a keen edge no matter how hard someone tried to blunt it. There was another spell that allowed someone to call a familiar to their side, that one Harry really paid attention to.

Leaving Flitwick, and determined to get permission from Stheno in regards to this tournament, Harry also had one more book that Flitwick had given him. Whispering his incantations was all well and good for stopping people from knowing what he was casting, but if someone silenced him then he needed a way to counter that, learning to cast silently seemed to be the best way to go and that was what that fourth book was about.

Harry headed off to the guest quarters where everyone would be waiting for him. It was as he was walking down the hallways that he realised how odd the stuff he came to think of as normal was. Here he was with Len sat on his shoulder and being flanked by Liz and Fran and he saw that as something so ordinary it wasn't even worth commenting on. How many twelve year olds had six hundred year old, cat-shaped succubi sat on their shoulders as they were followed by a part-dragon woman who had died three hundred and eighty-two years before after having killed over six hundred women and bathed in their blood on one side and, on the other, an artificially created woman that had scared her creator into fleeing after dismembering her, had put herself back together, tracked her creator down and killed his family, drove said man insane and then drowned herself?

Add to all of that that he called Medusa the Gorgon's sisters his own sisters, his grandfather was a dimension hopping vampire and his closest friends included two vampire princesses and he now had a thousand year old, highly venomous and highly deadly, almost ninety foot long snake for a familiar, one with a definite sense of sarcasm and his life had gone so far past bizarre that it wasn't even applicable any more.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by anything else that may happen to me, eh?" Harry muttered to himself as he wandered through the castle.

xxxxx

Arcueid was enjoying everything that was happening, everything that she personally experienced and everything that she observed. The ditzy part of her was both an aspect of her personality and a mask she showed to the world that only those that knew her really well could see past.

The point of divergence could be traced back to when she had met Harry, Zelretch had been trying to get both of them to lighten up and had masterminded the whole event. She wasn't complaining though, it had resulted in her friendship with Harry, something that she found joy in.

She remembered how emotionless and blank she had been, existing only to combat Roa whenever one of his incarnations turned up only to sleep again when it had been taken care of. He'd risen sixteen times before her meeting with Harry and each one had whittled a little of her personality off, each one made her focus on nothing else but Roa's final demise.

When she had entered the place she hadn't expected the boy that she'd met, she'd expected Zelretch himself. She had expected for Zelretch to attempt something he found amusing, something that others very often didn't find fun, and he would involve her somehow.

The boy who had been sat reading a book in Zelretch's quarters, because everyone next door had been drunk, had turned her life, not exactly upside down, but he had certainly injected a fair amount of happiness and energy into it. Whatever the cause was, it certainly soothed her existence some.

Harry had a way of making everyone get along, she had even managed to get along with Altrouge, something that was certainly a surprise to her. It was a rather happy occurrence though, another thing to experience, another thread to add to the tapestry of her life.

She was quite happy to say that she had been Harry's first friend, which she actually was, but she wasn't his closest friend. That position was actually taken by Altrouge, that was unless those two were actually together, it was getting harder to tell. Harry would never be a romantic interest for her, that didn't mean she couldn't tease him though.

She remembered that little competition that Zelretch had set up in regards to the engagement thing. She wouldn't have minded actually winning it, none of them would have, but she would have been a place-holder to prevent those ridiculous betrothal rituals this messed up world had.

She knew that Harry was planning to participate in the upcoming Grail War, whether he was selected as a master or not, and she knew that he would want to go alone. She could respect that, only masters and Heroic Spirits were actually a part of that tournament after all. She didn't think the others would like it though, Stheno would worry about him but she would probably allow it eventually, Euryale didn't show it as clearly but she too would worry incessantly. Len would go, there was no way that she would let him leave without her. Zelretch, she knew, was putting together some things that would help him while he was there, he'd also managed to gather a fair few catalysts as well. She knew that the master of the Kaleidoscope was also giving him birthday and Christmas presents that would help him, that gem bird would be a good scout and she knew that he was planning to teach Harry more of the Kaleidoscope's workings.

It was really Altrouge that she wondered whether they'd be able to stop her going to Fuyuki with him when the time came. Harry was her first friend and he was one of the few people who would treat her as a person, other apostles would either serve her or be against her.

It was rather sweet to see, the Princess of the Dead Apostles, Altrouge Brunestud, and the weird but still a little human, grandson of Zelretch, family of the Gorgon sisters, Harry Potter. Actually, when she thought of it like that, it didn't quite sound how she had initially imagined it. Oh well, it was still rather cute.

What was also cute was how close Harry was with Len, she never left his side if she could help it. That might sound clingy but it wasn't actually, it suited those two. Len was Harry's eyes and ears, the one that no one suspected. She was also Harry's shadow, constantly with him and following in his footsteps.

Arcueid was definitely happy that she had met Harry that time, he was someone that she was glad to call friend. She did enjoy teasing him though, whether blatantly or subtly, but if Harry ever needed her then she would make damn well sure that she was there for him. She had heard of this 'Dark Lord' that had targeted him and he really didn't know who he was messing with.

xxxxx

When Harry had told her about Flitwick's offer, Stheno had said yes. She also said that they would be there to watch him compete, cheering him on, which everyone else agreed with. It made Harry smile to know that he had so many people who cared about him, God knows what kind of life he would have lived if Zelretch hadn't interfered.

Time went by, as time does. The time up until Christmas was filled with fun and laughter and other things people put into filler chapters when they actually have ideas to write, it was fun. The regular castle residents got used to the presence of Harry's visitors and all of them became included in some of the activities that went on.

There was a snowball fight that almost all of them got in to, the regular Hogwarts residents on one team, including the professors, and Harry with his family and friends on the other. There was a lot of cheating that went on in that game, the Weasley twins enchanting snowballs to fly directly at one of the visitors, Dumbledore conjuring a large amount of snow just above their heads, no one could prove it but Severus was the main suspect when several vials of potion animated some of the snow, creating some kind of golem that went after the snowball throwers.

That last incident reminded Harry of the potions that he was brewing, aside from the polyjuice with Hermione and Neville that is. He had the variations on the potion that Helena had come up with that would be ready soon and he was brewing the animagus potion as well, that would be ready a bit before his thirteenth birthday if he'd gotten the timing right.

It was also before Christmas that Harry decided to approach one Luna Lovegood.

xxxxx

She was skipping down a corridor, affecting a completely carefree attitude. She had just had breakfast and had decided to do a little exploring, who knew, she might find some interesting new creature to document and tell her daddy about. Humming merrily to herself, she had not been expecting to turn a corner and literally walk into Harry Potter.

The elder boy didn't fall over, he slid one foot back to keep his balance, but Luna almost hit the floor. She was caught before she did though by two pale arms, thin though they were she could definitely feel the strength in them. Though not particularly tall, Harry managed to lift her up and set her back on her feet, seemingly without effort.

Luna didn't know what to do, she had never been this close to Harry before and all of this conflicting natures were right before her. Actually, there was some discrepancy with two particular natures. The artificial nature, that which was like a golem, was slightly off to one side but there was nothing there. The dragon-like nature was also off to one side, the opposite of the golem-like nature, but it seemed like both of them connected with Harry's own nature somehow, like he was the reason they were there.

The huge patronus behind them didn't help matters, it emanated comforting feelings like all patronuses did but it also put her on edge. She didn't actually know what this form it had taken was but hearing the vampire girl call it Primate Murder didn't exactly conjure up an image of cuddly bunny rabbits, whatever it was, it felt rather deadly which was really strange for a patronus.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked the blonde girl. "You hit me quite hard there."

"I'm fine, thank you." Luna replied. She tried to adopt her usual dreamy look but Harry saw a flicker of confusion cross her face, the fact that she was looking where Liz and Fran stood only served to make it more curious.

"You aren't as out there as people think, are you?" Harry asked her.

Luna tilted her head to one side. "What do you mean? I'm right here, aren't I? I'm not being abducted by aliens for human experiments and this is merely a clone left behind, is it?" She asked before starting to count her fingers and toes, as if to see if they were all there.

It amused Harry to watch her poke herself in the side, now that he'd seen that look of confusion on her face he could see the act she was putting on. "You know, acting like that isn't going to convince me."

Luna heard the amusement in his voice but tried to persevere anyway. "Convince you of what? Are you one of those people that doesn't believe in nargles?" She asked.

Harry just shook his head, a small smile on his face. "Why don't you tell me about nargles and I'll tell you whether I believe in them or not, sound good to you?"

Luna nodded her head and the two of them left to sit by a window, that large patronus and the two Heroic Spirits following them. She began to talk, she spoke of all the creatures that most would deny existing, she didn't realise that Harry had that calculating look in his eye, how could she when he wore a blindfold all the time? She spoke at length, it must have been about half an hour later when Harry actually said something longer than a single word.

"So, these nargles." He said. "From what you're saying, they hang around people who have difficulty in accepting others opinion's, stubborn people who always believe they're right, yes?" Luna nodded. "Damn, Hermione must be absolutely infested with them then."

That startled a laugh out of Luna. "She is. You though, you don't really have any and nor do the people you came with. The old man, Zelretch, they seem to fly away from him."

Harry snorted. If there was anyone that caused logic to fly out of the window it was him, Zelretch was the type of person that told the concept of impossible off simply because he wanted to see a chocolate reindeer start a jazz band.

"Why do you hide like that?" Harry asked her. "Don't say you don't because it won't work, why do you hide behind that mask of lunacy? From what I can gather, you are a smart young girl but everyone always focuses on how you act as if you're insane. Is that it? You wish people to see you as insane?"

Luna looked at Harry again, she'd been initially frightened of him, heck, she was still somewhat scared of him. There was something about Harry that whispered in her ear, it's high, cold voice spoke to her, it told her that if she was ever deemed a threat to him or those he cared about then she would be better of killing herself than letting him find her. It was both horrifying and intriguing but it was most definitely scary.

It seemed that scary didn't mean bad though, as long as she remained non-threatening then he was quite willing to speak with her. His razor sharp intuition, what had stripped her down of her usual defence, was scary by itself but she found that she wasn't too averse to it, like people who went into those haunted house things at theme parks.

"It's easier." Luna said, all the dreaminess gone from her eyes. "People always want to be with the popular people but popular people stab you in the back. I used to be friends with Ginny Weasley but then it was all decided that she was going to be Mrs. Potter and she didn't spend so much time with me any more. It got worse as she was coming to school, it was like something was focusing her on you, even more than she was before, and no one seemed to notice it."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Mrs. Potter? What gave her that idea?"

Luna smiled at him. "Didn't you know? She was a big fan of those Harry Potter adventure books and her mother told her that she could grow up to be your wife. She used to play pretend games of marrying you, she used to play husband and wife with you as the husband, I think she even practised her Mrs. Potter signature too. I'm guessing that ring on your hand, the one underneath the glove means otherwise."

Harry looked down at his hands, the fingerless gloves that he always wore were still there but a close look showed a slight bump where the ring was, it was so slight as to be nearly noticeable unless you were looking for it. He wondered how she had noticed it and tilted his head to one side in curiosity.

"I saw the Potter ring on the vampire girl's finger, I think her name was Altrouge, and the only known Potter left is you. That means that the two of you are engaged, aren't you a little young for that?" Luna asked him.

Harry chuckled. "My engagement with Altrouge wasn't entered with romantic intent, it was primarily done to prevent things like betrothal rituals and things like that. I may one day end up marrying Altrouge but, then again, I may end up with someone else."

"Sensible." Luna said. "I guess that you'd have to worry about that, what with being famous and all. I heard that Blaise Zabini's mother caught two of her husbands with betrothal rituals, that was unusual as she's normally more subtle than that."

Harry snorted. Blaise Zabini's mother was known as the Black Widow and it had nothing to do with her tanned complexion. She had had a number of husbands who all died in mysterious circumstances and left her with a lot of money, if Harry remembered right then there had been a marriage contract from her amongst those that Zelretch had discarded. That just went to sure how messed up some things were, she had a son in his year after all.

"If you hadn't noticed, the females that I am friends with are a little... different than most. I doubt that I would ever consider Ginny Weasley as a possible romantic interest, I find the fact that she grew up like that fairly creepy. There's also the fact that I don't get along with her brother and I wouldn't want someone to choose between family and me, it wouldn't sit right with me." Harry told the younger blonde girl.

Luna nodded. "I noticed. Your friends do include two vampire girls and a Japanese woman. Your family includes two with Greek names, one with a German name and only one with an English name. It's almost like you don't like Britain, do you prefer to spend your time elsewhere?"

"I don't particularly care where I am, though some places mean something to me that others don't. Greece means something to me, or at least their myths and legends do. I have a few friends in Japan, we send each other a few letters over the year and we do keep in contact. I live in England so I suppose that means something to me, not much but it still does." Harry replied. To be honest, he'd never really considered it before.

"What about you?" Harry asked. "Anywhere that you're particularly fond of? Some place that your parents like to take you?"

"I like Sweden," Luna said. "I like Norway as well and I like jungles, there's always so many interesting things to find there. Daddy takes me every summer to some place new. Mummy liked to come to but she can't any more, she passed away."

Harry nodded his head. He wouldn't give his sympathies or his condolences as he knew that it didn't matter, they would all still be as did if he didn't and he wasn't going to pay lip service to it. Luna seemed to understand, he imagined that her unique point of view, the fact that she could switch it and look at things from a different perspective, allowed her to understand people better than they might expect her to.

"Well, I think we've sat here long enough. I'm heading off to the lake and I'm sure you have people to talk and play with." Luna said as she swung her feet forward and got to her feet. Harry didn't bother commenting on the fact she would be alone, if she wanted company then she could find it herself easily enough. He did say that she was always welcome to come and find him, he'd always be willing to chat with her if she wanted to.

Luna watched him go, that large wolf-like patronus following him, the two presences she'd felt, the dragon-like one and the golem-like one seeming to get closer to him, so close as to be indistinguishable from his own nature at this distance. She still found him frightening, perhaps even more so than she had before, it was simply a part of his nature. Ferocious might have been the word she had applied to him in her mind but maybe monster was a better choice.

He was a monster, he would rampage if someone he cared about was in danger. He would not stop until that danger was torn to bloody pieces and damn the consequences, he would be single-minded, focused, deadly. He was the last person you would want as an enemy and among the first choices for allies but he would only help those he wanted to, those he cared for, those he owed favours or those that caught his interest. Yes, he was a monster, yes, he was scary but, perhaps, scary didn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, perhaps being a monster could be one of his charm points.

xxxxx

"Ah, Harry." Said boy looked up as he entered the guest quarters at Hogwarts to see that only Zelretch was there. A quick question to Lady Hogwarts, and she really needed a name of her own, told him that everyone else was out on the grounds, enjoying themselves.

"Yes gramps, is there something you needed?" Harry asked.

"No, not really. I was just wondering if you'd like another lesson on the Kaleidoscope. I imagine you want your wand back, I did leave it in the Clock Tower after all." Harry grimaced slightly at that. When he'd handed his wand to Zelretch in an effort to get rid of his patronus, the old vampire hadn't brought it back and Harry didn't know exactly where he'd left it.

"Yes, I do. I can't exactly start the next term without it now, can I?" Harry asked, sarcasm heavy in his voice.

"Come here then, come here." Zelretch said as he set a large cushion down on the floor before getting one for himself. Harry sat on his and laid back against his Primate Murder patronus as he waited for Zelretch to continue.

"You know, I find myself wondering how that thing would react to an exorcism. I think that it might be a good idea to track down some tomes on the subject regardless." Zelretch muttered as he saw how comfortable Harry was getting.

"I don't know," Harry replied. "This is rather comfortable, though I don't know how the magi at the Clock Tower would react to it following me around, they might make a mess of themselves." He said innocently.

A chuckle escaped the wizard marshal's lips. "I suppose that I should be grateful of what little of my tendencies that you did pick up, it does me good to know that the world will never be without tricksters and pranksters."

Harry just looked at Zelretch and just said. "You have met Fred and George Weasley, haven't you? I dread to think what your influence on them has done, they were bad enough to begin with. There's also the fact that Helena seems to be getting into the thick of things and that has me really worried!"

"Ah, yes. Helena is your ghost friend, isn't she? The wraiths and apparitions here are most curious, nothing like what we have back home. I suppose that your element has allowed you to experiment, has it?" Zelretch asked.

Harry frowned. "Not really, the ghosts here tend to avoid me, Helena being the exception. They sense something is different about me and are wary of me as a result, even Peeves the poltergeist avoids me and he is an avid prankster that targets pretty much everyone. I got rid of Riddle's soul piece by the way, I burned it up with black fire when I modified my aria."

Zelretch nodded his head. "I was surprised that you figured out what it was so fast, none of your alternates did. Most assume the diary to simply be enchanted with dark magic or something, others don't really give it enough thought and simply dismiss it."

Harry's frown deepened. "I interrogated it before of course, I got a fair bit of information from it. This summer I'm going to look for the Gaunt residence near Little Hangleton and Riddle's orphanage, if it still exists. I also got it to tell me the ritual necessary to create a horcrux." Here Harry paused and Zelretch looked at him with concern.

"It is actually a rather crude form of soul magic. It uses the soul of someone pure to shatter that which isn't and place one of those fragments in an object. The object can be anything but its nature as a horcrux lends it some incredible defensive properties, only that which destroys the non-physical aspect of it, that which targets the soul piece itself or the magic binding it to the physical object, can destroy it. The ritual uses the soul of the sacrifice as fuel and it is that soul which has me rather pissed off at him, after all what comes to mind when you think of an innocent and pure soul?" Harry asked Zelretch.

"A maiden is thought to be pure, a virgin too." He blinked before looking at Harry again. "That's not what you're thinking of though, is it? You're thinking of something too young to be stained by sin, a baby."

Harry's jaw tightened at that. It was one of the few things other than those he cared about that would get under his skin. He wasn't one of those 'protect women' sort of people, he viewed them as just as capable as men so they can sort out their own problems. He wasn't the patriotic sort either, he didn't really care about nationality. He was unconcerned racial hatred as well, if a species wanted respect then they earned it. What did get to him though was people who beat, abused and killed those who were too young to do anything about it, he well remembered his childhood with the Dursleys, his occlumency wouldn't allow him to forget it.

"I don't care about his death eaters, I don't care about his supporters. Anyone can take them but Voldemort himself is mine and I will destroy him, I will rend him to pieces and I will be the one that shows him death. I will take out anyone that stands between us and I will walk over their corpse if I have to but Tom Marvolo Riddle will die by my hand and my hand alone." Harry said, his voice filled with conviction.

Behind him, the two astralised servants looked at one another and nodded. He was their master and they would protect him, they would even rip Voldemort's arms off but they wouldn't kill him, he was to be their master's prize and they would respect that.

"Understood, Harry." Zelretch said. "Now, let is focus on bringing objects to you and sending them away via the Kaleidoscope. I think that you'll be able to retrieve your wand within a few hours if you work at it."

Harry nodded and settled down for his next lesson with Zelretch, sending and retrieving objects to and from separate dimensions. The focus he applied allowing him to forget for a moment just what he would do to the so called 'Dark Lord; when next they met, it wouldn't be pretty.


End file.
